Cheese Makim 



Cheddar 

Swiss 

Brick 

Edam 

Limburger 

Cottage, etc. 



DECKER 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/cheesemaking01deck 



CHEESE MAKING 



CHEDDAR, SWISS, BRICK, 

LIMBURGER, EDAM, 

COTTAGE, ETC. 



BY 

JOHN W. DECKER, B.Agr. 

LATE PROFESSOR OF DAIRYING, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 



FIFTH REVISED EDITION BY 

F. W. WOLL, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 



ILLUSTRATED 



MADISON, WIS. 

MENDOTA BOOK COMPANY 

1909 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



o<?4'^^ 



"^^.m 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 25 1909 

^ Copyristnt Entry 

tlASS o^ XXc, No. 



COP' 



COPYRIGHTED 

JOHN W. DECKER 
1900 

MENDOTA BOOK COMPANY 
1909 



Cantwell Printing Company 
madison, wisconsin 




Value of Fat in Milk for Cheese Production. 

The yield of cheese increases, and its quality improves with 

increasing fat contents of the milk. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter. P^ge. 

I— The Constitution of Milk 1 

II — Secretion and Contamination of Milk .... 12 

III— Milk Testing 24 

IV — Enzymes 34. 

V — Tlie Deportment of Eennet 43 

VI — Cheddar Cheese 48 

VII — Cutting and Heating the Curd 57 

^m— Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the 

Curd 63 

IX — Salting and Pressing the Curd 78 

X — Curing and Shipping the Cheese 94 

XI — Judging Cheese HO 

^11— Hints on the Construction and Operation of 

Cheese Factories ]^]^7 

Xni— Organization of Cheese Factory Associations . . 131 

XIV — Swiss Cheese — its Characteristics 137 

XV— Swiss Cheese^from Milk to Curing Cellar . . 144 

XVI— Swiss Cheese— Work in the Cellar 158 

XVII — Brick Cheese ]^g2 

XVIII — Limburger Cheese 269 

XIX — Edam Cheese 3^74 

XX— Cottage, Neufchatel and Soft Cream Cheese . . 184 

XXI— Foreign and Domestic Cheese of Minor Importance 189 

Appendix. 1— Composition of Milk and Its Products ... 196 

2— Analyses of Different Kinds of Cheese ... 197 

3— The Cheese Market of the United States . . . 197 

4— Yield of Cheese from 100 Pounds of Milk . . 198 

5— Government Standards of Purity for Cheese . . 198 

6— Definition of a good American Cheddar Cheese . 199 

7— Defects in American Cheddar Cheese .... 199 

8— Standards for Grading Canadian Cheddar Cheese 206 



TO 

STEPHEN MOULTON BABCOCK, Ph.D. 

OTIEF CHEMIST OF THE WISCONSIN EXPERIMENT STATION 

WHO, AS A TEACHER, AND LATER AS A CO-WORKER. BY PATIENT LABOR 

AND WISE COUNSEL, INSPIRED THE AUTHOR WITH A 

GREATER LOVE FOR THE PROFESSION 

OF DAIRYING 

THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED 



PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION. 



The American dairy school is of recent origin, the first one 
having been started in Wisconsin in 1891. 

With the dairy school came the need of pedagogic state- 
ments of the subjects taught therein. 

It fell to the lot of the author of this book to make such a 
statement of cheese making. His first attempt was printed in 
1893 under the title of "Cheddar Cheese Making." This first 
attempt met with an encouraging reception and was translated 
into the French language by Emile Castel for the use of the 
Canadians in the Province of Quebec. A second and revised 
edition under the same name was printed in 1895. In 1900 the 
book was again revised and the scope enlarged to include Swiss, 
Brick, Limburger, Edam and Cottage cheese, and the title 
changed to that of "Cheese Making." The edition printed at 
that time is now exhausted and our nowledge of the subject has 
increased, requiring a number of important changes to bring 
the book up to date. 

Because of their relation to the subject, milk testing and 
dairy bacteriology have been touched upon briefly. An ex- 
haustive treatment has not been necessary as there are text- 
books treating these subjects. 

This is primarily a text-book and not a reference volume. 
To make the latter out of it would make it unwieldly for the 
former purpose. An analytical index, a complete table of con- 
tents, and references to original matter will, however, assist the 
busy man, student or instructor to look up references quickly or 
to find original data, 

John W. Decker. 

Columbus, 0., Jan. 1, 1905. 



PEEFACE TO FIFTH EDITION. 



The untimely death of the author of this book last year re- 
moved a pioneer student and investigator of cheese making in 
this country. By education and training Professor Decker was 
equipped as few for educational work in his chosen profession, 
and he gave to this work his undivided energies and enthusiasm. 
As instructor in dairying in the University of Wisconsin and 
later as professor of dairying in the Ohio State University he 
labored untiringly and with great success for the upbuilding of 
the dairy industry of these states, and for the general advance- 
ment of American dairying. 

The work done in writing this book has been of as great im- 
portance as Professor Decker's labors as a teacher and lecturer. 
For fifteen years it has been the standard book in the English 
language on the subject of Cheese Making and has been used as 
a text-bcok in all American agricultural colleges in which special 
courses in cheese making are offered. In preparing a new edi- 
tion of my lamented co-worker's book, it has been my effort to 
retain, as far as possible, its stamp of individuality, and changes 
have only been introduced where it was deemed very desirable 
to do so. Discussions of a number of new topics have, however, 
been added in order that the book may continue to be a thor- 
oughly reliable and up-to-date guide to the manufacture of 
American cheddar and other kinds of cheese made in this coun- 
try. Among new subjects that have been discussed in this edi- 
tion may be mentioned : Cold-curing and paraffining of cheddar 
cheese, use of acidimeter, Hart's test for casein in milk, a synop- 
sis of defects in American cheddar cheese, manufacture of 
Camembert, Gouda, Italian, Potted, Sage and other kinds of 
fancy cheese, etc. 

Aclmowledgement is due my colleagues, Professor E. H. 
Farrington and Messrs. M. Michels and Roy T. Harris, for valu- 
able aid rendered in the preparation of this edition ; also to Wis- 
consin Experiment Station and Creamery Package Mfg. Co. of 
Chicago, for the loan of cuts. 

F. W. WOLL. 

Madison, Wis., Dec. 28, 1908. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE CONSTITUTION OF MILK. 



1. Uses of Milk. 

Cows' milk is given for the primary purpose of nourishing 
the young calf until it can seek its own food. Man has diverted 
milk from its original purpose and has made it one of the most 
important human foods. The cow originally gave only enough 
milk to nourish its calf until this could take care of itself and, 
therefore, produced milk for only a brief period of time; but 
the modem dairy cow has been gradually developed by intelli- 
gent selection, feeding, and breeding so that she produces milk 
in large quantities and for nearly an entire year after each 
calving. Aside from its use for direct consumption, milk is 
used for the manufacture of a number of human food products, 
like cream, butter, cheese, condensed milk, etc. 

2. Composition of Milk. 

Since milk was by nature intended for the nourishment of 
the calf, one might expect to find that it contains all the food 
elements necessary for the building up of the young animal's 
body. An analysis reveals the presence of water, which is ab- 
solutely necessary for the maintenance of life ; ash is needed for 
the bones ; iiitrogenous ynateiial in the form of casein and albu- 
men, etc., nourishes the muscles, hair, hoofs and horns ; and car- 
honaceo'us matter in the form of sugar and fat maintains the 
heat of the body. A¥e shall now consider briefly the main char- 
acteristics of the various components of milk. 

3. Albuminoids or Proteins. 

The albuminoids or proteins contain the nitrogen of the milk 
and consist mainly of two substances, casein and albumen. 

Casein. The casein is the part of the milk that is curdled by 
rennet or weak acids. It is commonly supposed to be dissolved 



2 Cheese Making. 

in the water of the milk, but this is not strictly true. If milk 
be filtered through a porcelain filter it will leave a gelatinous 
mass on the filter, which is the casein; or, if skim milk be re- 
volved for a long time in a separator bowl, a layer of casein 
will be deposited on the walls of the bowl. Casein is dissolved 
in solutions of borax, sodium phosphate, and alkalies. It is used 
commercially as a sizing for paper. 

Albumen. The casein does not constitute all of the protein 
of milk. When milk has been coagulated by rennet the casein is 
precipitated. If the whey be heated to 180° F. another precipi- 
tate will be thrown down. This is the albumen. It is much 
like the white of an egg which is coagulated by heat. It is in 
solution until the heat precipitates it. Albumen is not incor- 
porated in Cheddar cheese in the ordinary method of manu- 
facture, and cannot apparently be so incorporated without re- 
sulting in the making of sour cheese. 

In addition to the casein and albumen of the milk, small 
amounts of other nitrogenous components are always present, 
but our knowledge of these substances is as yet incomplete. 

4. Ash. 

The ash is the bone-forming part of the milk and consists 
largely of phosphates of calcium and potash, with some chlor- 
ides. Although the ash is present only in small quantities in 
the milk it is of great importance in cheese making. Part of 
the calcium salts is supposed to be suspended as fine particles 
in the milk or held in combination with the casein, but a part 
is certainly held in solution and on this solubility of calcium 
salts depends the property of coagulation by rennet. If am- 
monium oxalate be added to milk in sufficient quantity, the 
soluble calcium salts will be changed to insoluble calcium ox- 
alate, and the milk will not curdle with rennet. Similar results 
can be obtained by heating the milk to 180° F. When a soluble 
calcium salt is added to such milk, the rennet will again act, in 
fact it will work faster than before because of the increase in the 
soluble calcium salts in the milk. 

5. Milk Sugar. 

The sugar of milk crystallizes in hard crystals ; it is not as 
sweet as common cane sugar. It caramelizes at a high tempera- 



s? 



The Constitution of Milk. 3 

ture, giving the peculiar scalded taste to the milk. It is sepa- 
rated from milk by evaporating whey in a vacuum pan. Com- 
mercial milk sugar is used in infant foods and in medicines. 

6. Fat. 

The fat of the milk is a mdxture of several fats, mainly of 
stearic, palmitic and oleic acids, in combination with glycerine. 
With these are a number of fats that are both volatile and 
soluble. In this latter respect butter fat differs from the fats 
used in oleomargarine. Filled cheese is made by introducing 
oleo oils into milk in the place of the butter fat. 

The fat of milk is in emulsion — that is, it is distributed 
through the milk serum in the form of minute globules, which 
can only be seen by the aid of a microscope. They vary nor- 

^' 








Fig. 2. — The fat globules as seen through a microscope. The portion 
included in the circle is highly magnified. The clotting is due to an album- 
inous substance that collects around they globules soon after the milk is drawn. 

mally in size from 1-40,000 of an inch to 1-2000 of an inch in 
diameter. On account of their minute size they are necessarily 
very numerous. 

It is estimated that there are 150,000,000 fat globules in a 
single drop of average milk. The average production of fat 
globules by a good dairy cow has been estimated to be 38,210,000 
per second. 

The fat globules being lighter than the surrounding serum 
naturally rise when the milk is left standing, and crowding 



4 Cheese Making. 

close together form a layer known as the cream. In the manu- 
facture of cheese it is necessary to get an even distribution of 
the fat globules at the time of coagulation by the rennet, which 
is secured by constant stirring of the milk. 

7. Average Composition of Milk. 

The average composition of cows' milk, with the normal va- 
riations for each constituent, is given in the following table. 
Thousands of milk analyses are on record, but these vary 
greatly, so that it would be difficult to give an absolutely correct 
average, but the figures here given are within the range of 
usual variations. 

Average. 
Water 87.4 per ct. 



Fat 

Casein and albumen. 



3.7 
3.2 



Milk sugar 5.0 

Ash 

Specific gravity (60' 



F.) 



.7 
1.032 



Minimum. 


Maximum 


82.0 per ct. 


90.0 


per ct 


2.3 


7.8 




25 " 


4.6 




3.5 


6.0 




.6 


.9 




1029 " 


1.036 





8. Use in Animal Economy. 

The chart given below shows how the different constituents 
of milk are usually grouped, with an approximate statement of 
their use as food in animal economy. 



MILK ^ 



Water 

8Y.4% 



Total 

Solids 
12.6% 



L 



Solids 
not 
Fat 

8.9% 



Fat 

3.r% 



\ 

Ash .7% I for I 



Use In 
Animal Economy 



Water of 
Body 



Bones 



Casein 

2.5% 
Albuman 

.7% 



Sugar 

5.0% 



Protein 
for 



I- for 

I 
J 



f Muscles 
I Tendons 
-I Hair 
I Hoofs 
[ Horns 



Heat 

and 

Fat 



9. Variations in Factory Milk. 

The following table will give a fair idea of the average com- 
position of milk as delivered to an American cheese factory :* 



^Bulletin 82, Geneva (N. Y.) Experiment Station. 



The Constitution of Milk. 



TABLE SHOWING AVERAGE MONTHLY COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN 
FACTORY MILK, IN PER CENT. 



Month. 


87.40 


o 
m 

"3 
o 


4J 


Solids 
not Fat. 


Nitrogen 
Compounds. 




a 

13 


May 


12.60 


3.63 


8.97 


3.14 


2.44 


0.70 


June 


87.53 


12.47 


3.55 


8.92 


3.07 


2.35 


0.72 


July 


87.63 


12.37 


3.59 


8.78 


3.00 


2.27 


0.73 


August 


87.51 


12.49 


3.78 


8.71 


3.05 


2.32 


0.73 


September. . 


87.33 


12.67 


3.75 


8.92 


3.10 


2.41 


0.69 


October 


86.87 


13.13 


4.00 


9.13 


3.36 


2.60 


0.76 



3 

5.83 
5.85 
5.78 
5.66 
5.82 
5.77 



This table shows that the total solids in factory milk vary 
between 12 and 13 per cent, and the fat varies between 3.5 and 
4.0 per cent. These are averages for the milk in the vat at the 
factory. Individual cows or herds may produce milk varying 
considerably from these averages. In the table the sugar, ash, 
etc., are combined. Milk contains approximately 5 per cent of 
milk sugar and .7 per cent ash. 
lo. Effect of Fat on Quality of Cheese. 

Cheese made from separator skim, milk is hard and honry, 
and though undoubtedly possessing some food value, it is too 
tough to be eaten. 

Cheese made from part skim milk, though rather dry, is 
better than full-skim cheese, and the cheese from full-cream 
milk is more mellow and agreeable to the taste than either of 
these. Cheese made from exceptionally rich milk or from milk 
fortified by addition of cream is still softer and more palatable. 
This difference in quality is recognized on the market, as can be 
seen by the quotations, full skims ranging from 1 to 4 cents in 
value, and full creams from 7 to 13 cents per pound. Cheese 
containing less than 50 per cent of fat in the total solids has 
been made from at least partly skimmed milk. 



6 Cheese Making. 

11. Effect of Fat on Quantity of Cheese. 

About five and a half to six ponncls of cheese can be ob- 
tained from one hundred pounds of separator skim milk, the 
amount depending- on the amounts of water and casein in the 
cheese. Butter fat will carry about a tenth of its weig'ht of 
water with it into the cheese. A rough way of estimating the 
probable yield of cheese from milk of a certain test would be to 
multiply the per cent of fat by 1.1, and add 5.7 (the average 
amount of cured cheese obtained from 100 lbs. of separator 
skim milk) . For instance, from 3 per cent milk there would be 
obtained 3X1-1=3.3 plus 5.7 equal to 9 lbs.; and from 4 per 
cent milk, 4x1-1=4.4 plus 5.7 equal to 10,1 lbs. 

A somewhat more accurate method is as follows: Cheese 
contains on the average 37 per cent of water and 63 per cent 
solids. By dividing 100, the total per cent of solids and water, 
by 63, the per cent of solids in the cheese, we obtain the factor 
1.58. Of the solids not fat, the casein and ash going into the 
cheese forms about one-third. Some fat is lost in the whey, so 
that, on the average, about 91 per cent of the fat goes into the 
cheese. Then the following formula will give the pounds of 
cheese obtainable from a hundred pounds of milk : 

1.58 ^ solids not Fat _^_g^^^^-| 

Example : Solids not fat 8.92, Fat 4 per cent. 
8.92^3=2.74 or 1/3 solids not fat. .91 of 4=3.64. 
3.64+2.74=6.38 or the total solids X 1.58=10.08 pounds of cheese. 

No rule for calculating the yield of cheese from a given 
amount of milk can give absolutely correct results on account 
of varying factors, as will be explained later. 

12. Yield of Cheese from Milk of Different Composition. 

Dairy school students who work for dairy certificates are 
often required to report their work each month on blanks fur- 
nished them. From 347 such reports covering 40,900,890 
pounds of milk made into 3,800,000 pounds of cheese, the fol- 
lowing table has been prepared :* 

*Eleventh report Wisconsin Experiment Station, p. 142. 



The Constitution of Milk. 



PER CENT OF FAT IN CHEESE FROM MILKS OF DIFFERENT 
COMPOSITION, 



Per cent Fat in 
Milk. 


Yield of Cheese 

per 100 lbs. 

Milk. 


Per cent Fat in 
Cheese. 


Pounds of Cheese 

for one Pound 

of Fat. 


3.13 


9.19 


29.7 


2.94 


3.38 


9.24 


32.3 


2.73 


3.60 


9.41 


34.0 


2.61 


3.84 


9.81 


35.1 


2.56 


4.09 


10.30 


35.8 


2.51 


4.45 


10.71 


37.8 


2.41 


Average .... 3 . 75 




34.1 


2.63 



It will be observed that the results with the rule given 
above correspond very closely to the results in actual practice. 
The results given in the preceding table illustrate the difference 
in the quality of the cheese due to differences in the fat con- 
tent of the milk used; as the fat in the milk increases, it also in- 
creases in the cheese, making a mellower cheese which is more 
pleasing to the consumer. 

The yield of cheese per pound of fat, however, decreases 
with the increase of fat in the milk. In the case of 3-per ct. 
milk, nearly 3 pounds of cheese is obtained per pound of fat 
while 4-per et. milk produces about 21/2 pounds of cheese per 
pound of fat in the milk. 

It will be seen that, on the average, 2.63 pounds of cheese 
was obtained per pound of fat in these trials. Experiments 
made under a variety of conditions have shown that a 
pound of fat in normal factory milk will produce 2.7 
lbs. of green Cheddar cheese. This makes a convenient method 
of calculating the approximate yield of cheese from the test of 
the milk; e. g. 100 lbs. of milk testing 3.7 per ct. will make 
3.7X2.7^10.0 lbs. of green cheese. The factor 2.6 will give the 
average yield of cured cheese.* 

It has been shown from market quotations that the true 
value of milk for cheese is in proportion to its fat content.f 

* "Testing Milk and Its Products," 18th ed., p. 199 (see p. 24, footnote. 
In this book). 

tBleventh Report, Wisconsin Experiment Station, p. 143. 



8 



Cheese Making. 



13. Colostrum Milk. 

The first milk given by a cow directly after parturition is 
called colostrum milk, and is much more viscous than normal 
milk, being sometimes as thick as syrup, and usually of a deep 
yellow color. The composition of colostrum milk is different 
from that of normal milk, the albuminoids sometimes amount- 
ing to 15 per cent, and the fat content being generally below 
that of normal milk ; the specific gravity of colostrum milk may 
run as high as 1.085, Under the microscope, cells which have 
scaled off from the inside of the udder can be seen floating in 
the milk ("colostrum bodies"), and while these are present 
the milk is unfit for cheese. After four or five milkings the 
milk secretion will generally be normal, but the milk should not 
be used for cheese making until a week after freshening. 

14. Curd. 

The curd is the coagulated casein which holds in its meshes 
most of the fat, some water, and small portions of albumen, 
milk sugar and ash, plus salt that is added in the process of 
manufacture. Green cheese is about one-third water, as will be 
seen from the following table.* Green cheese and curd are 
synonymous, for the cheese is simply the curd pressed together. 



COMPOSITION OF GREEN CHEESE, IN PER CENT. 



Water. 


SoUds. 


Solids 
not Fat. 


Fat. 


Casein, 
etc. 


Sugar, 
Asli, etc. 


36.69 


63.51 


29.16 


34.14 


23.44 


5.17 



In the above table the sugar, ash, etc., are grouped together. 
Our own analyses showed the ash of cheese to vary from 2.38 
to 3.85 per cent, of which ash, about 2.5 per cent, was the na- 
tural ash of the milk, the remainder being salt that was added 
to the curd. Over 40 per cent water makes a poor cheese. 
Cheese for the home market contains 36 to 37 per cent and 
export cheese 33 to 36 per cent of water. 



*Geneva Experiment Station, Bulletin 82. 



The Constitution of Milk. 9 

15. Whey. 

In the manufacture of cheese, the milk is curdled by ren- 
net, and the curd cut into small pieces from which the liquid 
portion, or whey, is expelled. It consists of the major part of 
the water of the milk, which carries with it nearly all the 
soluble components, viz., the albumen, milk sugar, ash, and 
also a small portion cf fat, as the globules break away from 
the surface of the curd when it is cut. 

16. Composition of Whey. 

The average ccmposition of whey for an entire season in 
an American cheese factory is as follows : Water 93.12 per 
cent, total solids 6.88 per cent, fat .27 per cent, nitrogenous sub- 
stances .81 per cent, sugar, ash, etc., 5.80 per cent. 

17. Losses of Fat in Whey. 

At the Minnesota Experiment Station in 1892 cheese was 
made from normal milk of different fat contents. The follow- 
ing table shows the losses of fat from these different milks : 

losses op pat in milk op different pat contents. 



Per cent fat in milk. 
Per cent fat in whey 
Number of trials .... 



3.5 to4 


4 to4.4 


4.5 to 5 


.38 


.36 


.39 


28 


31 


14 



5to 5.5 
.32 
4 



In another series of experiments where cream was added 
to milk to make it test 6 per cent, the loss of fat in the whey 
was no greater than in the whey from normal milk similar to 
that to which the cream was added. 

In all cases the richer milk made more cheese, which 
would of course leave less whey from each 100 pounds of milk. 
It is easily seen from this that the fat in rich milk can be worked 
into cheese mere economically than the fat in poor milk. 
What effect could this have in applying the second rule given 
in paragraph 11? 

18. Whey from Swiss Cheese. 

As explained above (15), the fat that goes into the whey is 
the fat globules that are knocked off from the surface of the 
curd particles. By using the kind of a knife used in Cheddar 



10 



Cheese Making, 



cheese making, the loss of fat can be reduced to .3 or .4 per 
cent, instead of .7 per cent when the old Swiss harp is used. 

By careful operation many makers are reducing the fat 
test of the whey to ,2j per cent. 

19. Constituents Recovered in Cheese. 

The different components of the milk have been discussed, 
together with their relation to recovery or loss in cheese mak- 
ing. The following table gives a good idea of where the different 
parts of the milk go to in the manufacture of Cheddar cheese :* 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SEASON'S RESULTS RELATING TO LOSS OF 
MILK-CONSTITUENTS IN CHEESE MA.KING. 





Pounds 
in 100 
lbs. of 
milk. 


Pounds 
lost in 
whey 
for 100 
lbs. of 
milk. 


Pounds 
recover- 
ed in 
cheese 
for 100 
lbs. of 
milk. 


Per 

cent 

lost in 

Whey. 


Per 
cent Re- 
covered 
in the 
Cheese. 


Solids in Milk 


12.52 
3.66 
3.07 


6.20 
0.25 
0.73 


6.32 
3.41 
2.34 


49.52 
6.83 

23.78 


50.48 


Fat in Milk 

Nitrogen Compounds in Milk 


93.17 

76.22 



In this table it will be seen that 93.17 per cent of the fat 
of the milk went into the cheese and our rule places the figure 
at 91 per cent. (11.) 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER I. 

1. What are the food elements which enter into the com- 
position of milk? 2. What is the average composition of milk? 
3. What is meant by total solids? 4. Of what do the solids 
not fat consist? 5. What is the difference between casein and 
albumen? 6. Of what importance are the soluble calcium salts 
in cheese making? 7. How. much milk sugar in 100 pounds of 
milk ? 8. How does milk sugar differ from cane sugar ? 9. What 
is the nature of butter fat? 10. In what form is the fat found 
in milk? 11. What is the size of the fat globules? 12. How 
many fat globules in a drop of average milk? 13. What can 
be said about the distribution of the globules in the milk at the 
time of adding the rennet? 14. What is the effect of fat in 

♦Bulletin 82, Geneva Experiment Station. 



The Constitution of Milk. 11 

the milk on the quality and the quantity of the cheese ? 15. How 
much cheese can be made from one hundred pounds of separator 
skim milk 1 16. How much will one per ct. of fat increase the 
weight of cheese made from the milk? 17. Give first rule for 
calculating approximately the yield of cheese from milk of a 
giyen fat content. 18. Give second rule for calculating yield 
of cheese when both fat and solids not fat in the milk are 
known. 19. What is colostrum milk, and how does it differ from 
normal milk? 20. What is the chemical composition of green 
cheese? 21. What is the whey and what elements of the milk 
does it contain? 22. How do the losses of fat compare in whey 
in ease of rich and poor milk? 23. How may excessive losses of 
fat in cheese making be avoided? 24. What proportion of the 
various constituents of the milk go into the curd and into the 
whey ? 



CHAPTER II. 
SECRETION AND CONTAMINATION OF MILK. 



20. Structure of the Udder. 

The udder of the cow where the milk is secreted, consists 
of two glands connected with each other along the median line, 
and with the posterior part of the abdomen, by fibrous tissue. 
Each quarter has one opening or teat. The teat is hollow, hav- 
ing an opening at the lower end closed by a sphincter muscle. 
The chamber of the teat opens into another chamber in the 
lower part of the udder just above the teat. From this cham- 
ber ducts diverge, dividing and growing smaller and smaller. 
The two halves separated by the fibrous band along the median 
line are entirely separate. The ducts end in little chambers 
about a thirtieth of an inch in diameter. These chambers or 
ultimate follicles are lined with cells. Arteries, blood vessels 
and nerves surround them and the blood brought by the arte- 
ries is changed by the cells into milk. 

21. Secretion of the Milk. 

While some parts of the blood may be taken into the milk 
without change, and white blood corpuscles are actually found 
in milk, the blood is for the most part changed by the cells. 
The fat globules are produced in the cells and discharged into 
the ducts. 

If samples of the fore milk and strippings be analyzed, the 
solids not fat will be found to be the same. The strippings will, 
however, be much the richer in fat. This is explained on the 
ground that on account of the fat globules being lighter there 
is a natural creaming in the udder, or, that the fat globules be- 
ing in an emulsion are retarded more by friction in their passage 
through the ducts than the soluble components of the milk. 

12 



Secretion and Contamination op Milk. 13 

22. Time of Secretion. 

Some authorities believe that milk is secreted to a large 
extent at the time of milking, since the udder has room for only 




Fig-. 3. — A section through a quarter of a cow's udder. From a photo- 
graph (Oornell Univ. Experiment Station). 

a small portion of the milk yielded by the cow at a milking; 
when a cow is excited or disturbed at that time, she may fail to 
produce as much milk of the same quality as usual. 



14 Cheese Making. 

On the other hand, the longer the period lietween milkings 
the larger will be the quantity cf milk given, and if the udder 
is not emptied it will become very much distended ; from 
these facts it is argued that milk production is a continuous 
process, though the rate of secretion may vary at different 
times. 

23. Cause of Bad Flavors. 

There are three causes for bad flavors in milk, namely: 
from strong-flavored feeds through the blood, by absorption 
from the air, and by bacterial infection. 

24. From Feed Eaten. 

Some strong-flavored feeds, like onions, turnips, cabbages, 
silage, rag weed, etc., put a like flavor into the milk given by 
the cow. The reader may have observed that when very hungry 
and faint, a little lunch will renew strength in a very few min- 
utes. This shows how quickly the food is taken into the blood. 
In a like manner, when a cow eats strong-flavored feeds, the 
volatile substances constituting the flavor are taken into the 
blood and from the blood they go into the milk. Aerating milk 
(31) will in a measure set these volatile substances free. If 
strong-flavored feed is given the cow just before milking, the 
flavor will be sure to be found in the milk. If fed just after 
milking, the flavors will probably pass out of the cow's system 
before the next milking. 

25. Flavors by Absorption. 

Milk, especially when warm, will absorb odors through the 
medium of the surrounding air. It should therefore be kept 
away from the bad odors of hog pens, barnyards, swill barrels, 
and like odoriferous sources. It is very likely that the flavors 
of feed may get into the milk in this way. 

26. Bacterial Infection. 

Milk becomes sour upon standing. The souring is caused 
by the growth of minute organisms, comLmonly called microbes 
or bacteria. These are plants consisting of but a single cell and 
so small that they can be seen only by a powerful microscope. 
They increase very rapidly and by their growth produce the 
changes observed in the milk. Some forms change the milk 
sugar into lactic acid and the milk becomes sour, other kinds 



Secretion and Contamination op Milk. 15 

produce a ropiness of the milk without souring it, and other 
forms produce gas in the milk, and when made into cheese the 
curd becomes filled wth gas holes. 

27. Varieties of Bacteria in Milk. 

The following are some of the more common conditicns 
produced in milk by bacterial growth : 

Sour milk; gassy milk; bitter milk; slimy milk; soapy 
milk, which comes from a germ found on straw in the stable, 
producing a soapy taste and frothing of the milk; alcoholic 
fermentation ; red milk ; blue milk (not skimmed) ; green milk, 
etc. A bacillus known as coli communis which is present in im- 
mense numbers in the colon or larger intestine, finds its way 
from the manure into the milk and causes a large proportion 
of the gassy curds that our cheese makers have to deal with. 
This germ has been found to exist in the udder for a long time. 
It finds its way through the opening in the teat, gets a lodge- 
ment and remains there, to grow and contaminate the milk, 
until accidentally dislodged and carried out with the milk. 
Rusty spots in cheese are caused by bacillus rudensis (222). 

28. How Milk is Infected. 

"When the milk is drawn from the udder, bacteria floating 
separately or clinging to particles of dust in the air fall into it. 
It will readily be seen that if the stable is closed tight and hay 
has been fed just before milking, a great deal of bacteria-laden 
dust will be stirred up and fall into the milk pail. If the cow 
lies down in the manure, or otherfilth, at milking time, the dust 
from this is stirred up and falls into the milk. Warm milk is 
a good medium for the germs to grow in, and they multiply 
very rapidly therein. If the milk is cooled the growth of the 
bacteria is checked for the time, but on warming up the milk 
again they willgrow and multiply rapidly. 

29. The Wisconsin Curd Test. 

While associated in dairy work with Drs. Babcock and 
Russell at the Wisconsin Experiment Station, the author brought 
out what is known as the Wisconsin Curd Test for the detection 
of injurious fermentations. The apparatus consists of pint, or 
smaller glass jars, with perforated tops, which set in a frame 



16 



Cheese ^I a king. 



in a Avalci- tank. JSamples of the milk to be examined are taken 
in the various jars, which are then set in warm water in the wa- 
ter tank and raised to a temperature of 95° to 100° F. Ten 
drops of rennet extract are added to each sample and M^hen the 
milk has curdled, the curd is broken up with a case knife. Care 
should be taken not to transfer the germs from one sample to 
another by the case knife or thermometer. As soon as the whey 




Fig. 4. — The Wisconsin Curd Test. 

separates, it is strained off through the strainer top, leaving 
the curd behind in the jar. The curd is then under the same 
conditions as a curd in the cheese vat, and the various kinds 
of bacteria will develop, giving their characteristis results. If 
the result te gas, it will show in the curd, or if it be a taint it 
will likewise be found there. Common Mason fruit jars and a 




Fig-. 5. — Students opeiating the Wisconsin Curd Test, 



Secretion and Contamination of Milk. 17 




Fig. 6. — Curds from milk of different quality as produced in the Wiscon- 
sin Curd Test. 

Upper figure, curd from a good milk. Large irregular holes mechanical. 

Middle figure, curd from tainted milk. Numerous small "pin holes" due 
to gas formed by rapid development of sugar-fermenting bacteria. 

Lower figure, curd from a foul milk. When received this milk showed 
no abnormal symptom, taut the foul odor and spongy texture appeared in six 
to eight hours. 

By means of this test, the factory operator can detect with certainty the 
presence of taints in milk that are caused tay the development of bacteria 
and molds. 



18 Cheese Making. 

washtub can be used for this work, but the regular apparatus 
for the purpose sold by supply houses is much better. (See 
Fig. 4.) 

30. Care of Milk. 

Having explained the sources of bad flavors in milk, a few 
suggestions about the care of milk may be in order. It has 
been seen that one cause of such flavors is the feed that the 
cows may get. If it is necessary to feed turnips or similar 
feeds, they should not be fed to excess, and after milking, 
in order that the flavor may disappear from the cow's blood be- 
fore the next milking. 

31. Aeration. 

Milk should be aerated— that is, it should be exposed in 
thin films or streams to pure air, so that these volatile substances 
may escape. As milk will absorb odors from the air, especially 
when it is warm, great care should be taken to . aerate the 
milk in a place where the air is fresh and untainted. The barn 
is obviously a poor place in which to do this. 

32. Varieties of Aerators. 

The common aerater is a large tin vessel with fine holes in 
the bottom. It is held above the milk can by an iron frame. 
The milk is strained into this aerator and falls through the air 
in fine streams into the can below. The Star cooler and aerator 
is arranged so that the milk flows in a thin film over a corru- 
gated surface, and water flowiug through the apparatus coo's 
the milk rapidly as it is being exposed to the air. 
S3- The Barn Air. 

The air in the barn should be kept as free from dust as 
possible, for as previously explained, the particles of dust are 
loaded with bacteria. Good dairy farmers make a habit of air- 
ing out the stables before milking, and hay or dry fodder is not 
fed until after milking. 

The stables should also be kept clean to prevent the milk 
from being injured by foul odors. 

34. Keep Cows Clean. 

The cows, if dirty, should be carded the same as a horse. 
There is no excuse for having a cow 's flanks plastered over with 
filth. As previously explained, such filth is an incubator for 



Secretion and Contamination of Milk. 19 

the kinds of bacteria that spoil the milk. Just before milking, 
the cow's udder and flank should be dampened with a wet cloth 
or sponge to dislodge the dust and thus prevent its falling. The 
habit of wetting the teats, however, is a bad one, for dirt may 
be washed into the milk with the moisture. 

While a limited number of lactic acid-producing germs in 
milk may not be detrimental, the germs that come from bam 
filth are very injurious. 

35. Cooling the Milk. 

As soon as the milk has been aerated, it should be cooled 
to 60° F. or less. At 40° F. there will be little, if any, change 
in the milk, and if it has to be kept a considerable length of 
time, this temperature should be approximated as near as pos- 
sible. 

36. Covering the Cans. 

After the milk has been properly aerated and cooled, it 
should be covered to prevent evaporation from the cream that 
forms on the top. This cream can be readily worked back into 
the milk if it does not become leathery from evaporation. 

37. Kind of Utensils. 

Wooden pails should not be used for milk, for the reason 
that they cannot be easily and thoroughly cleaned; milk will 
soak into the wood and ferment, ready to contaminate the next 
lot of milk. 

The seams of tin pails, cans and dippers should be filled 
flush with solder so that milk cannot collect and sour in crevices. 

38. Care of Utensils. 

AH strainers, pails and other utensils in which the milk is 
handled should be rinsed first with lukewarm water, and then 
with boiling water, and if possible, exposed to a jet of steam to 
thoroughly sterilize them. Many germs are killed by direct sun- 
light, and the utensils should be set out in such a position that 
the sun can shine into them. After scalding they should not be 
wiped out with a towel or rag, as this would be likely to again 
introduce undesirable germs in them. 

39. Factory Cleanliness. 

No less important than the matter of cleanliness in the barn 
and the manner of milking, is the matter of cleanliness in the 



20 



Cheese Making. 



factory. Milk may be spoiled in an untidy factory after its de- 
livery there. A few suggestions at this time regarding the care 
of the factory will be pertinent. 

Ahnost every cheese-maker will keep the inside of the 
weigh-can and cheese vats clean, but the outside is often sorely 
neglected. Milk may be spilled on the floor, and not properly 
cleaned up. Water is slopped on the floor, and the maker wades 
through it without drying it up ; when the whey is drawn from 
the vat, it often goes on the floor, and in order to keep his feet 
dry, he wears rubber boots. 

40. Rubber Boots. 

The rubber boots are an injury to his health and the slop 
unnecessary, to say nothing about the wear on the floor and its 
untidy appearance. One would think a housewife who kept her 
kitchen floor in such condition, a very slovenly woman, and 
there is no reason why a factory floor should be slopped over 
any more than a kitchen floor. If any water accidentally gets 
onto the floor, it should be mopped up at once. Rotten floors 
which have to be renewed often, and rheumatism and ill health 
for the operator, are the price paid for the doubtful privilege of 





Fig. 7. — Rubber Mop and Floor Scrub. 




making a mill pond of the factory floor. The old saying 
that "a penny earned is a penny saved" applies in a modified 
form to work in a factory, viz. : Care in preventing dirt ^^dll 
save the labor of cleaning it up. 

41. Scrubbing the Floor. 

At the close of the day's work, the floor should be scrubbed, 
first with lukewarm, and then with hot water, and then dried off 
with a rubber mop. Hot water will make the floor dry quickly, 



Secretion and Contamination of Milk. 21 

but it should never be used where milk has been spilled, or 
where milk or whey is on tinware, for heat will scald the 
milk on. 

42. Soaps. 

Powdered soap, such as ''Gold Dust," is very effective in 
taking out dirt, but it is too expensive a form in which to use 
soap, as it dissolves readily and runs away. Salsoda is much 
cheaper and just as effective for a great many things, such as 
cleaning the floor. A mixture of cheap soap and salsoda can be 
dissolved in hot water and used for scrubbing, and then after- 
ward rinsed oft' with hot water. 

Sapolio is a soap mixed with infusorial earth, which may 
be used for scouring tinware. 

43. Scrubbing Brushes. 

Several good stiff scrubbing brushes are needed for getting 
into corners. Brushes are now made in a number of different 
forms so as to apply to all conditions. There are round brushes 
on long handles for getting into pipes and tubes, -strong brushes 
with sharp corners and round ends, and extra heavy floor scrubs. 
All these things make the work easier. 

44. Towels. 

The need of clean towels and clean cloths in factories for 
wiping hands and utensils, it would seem, is so evident that it 
may be thought unnecessary to mention the fact, but they are 
nevertheless absent in a large number of factories ; hence men- 
tion of the matter is made here. 

45. Watch the Corners. 

In scrubbing the floor, the mop board should not be forgot- 
ten, nor the doors and other wood work. If the maker is careful 
in scrubbing the floor every day, a general scrubbing once a 
week will keep things looking bright. 

46. Shelves for Trinkets. 

The windows should be kept as clean as those in a dwelling 
house, nor should tools and little trinkets be laid on the window- 
sills. There should be shelves or drawers for all such things. 

The curing room should likewise be kept in order. It should 
not be a dumping place for all sorts of material, which properly 
goes into the store room above. 



22 Cheese LIaking. 

47. How to Kill Molds. 

At the beginning of the season, the walls may be sprinkled 
with water, and the room closed tight, while two or three pounds 
of sulphnr is burned in it ; this method Mall kill molds. 

48. Antiseptics. 

A still better way is to wash the walls with limewater. 
Limewater is a disinfectant, and should be nsed wherever it can 
be applied. Commercial sulphate of iron (copperas or green 
vitriol, as it is commonly called), is also a disinfectant, and 
should be put into drains and places that are likely to smell 
badly. 

49. To Prevent Dust. 

The boiler room must not be neglected. If coal is used^ 
coal dust can be prevented by sprinkling the coal with water. 
The floor should be kept cleanly swept, and should be mopped 
twice a week, or as often as needed. Tools should have their 
regular places and be kept there. 

The reader may consider it a waste of space to talk about all 
these little matters, but experience has taught the writer that 
they are the foundation of the business of cheese-making ; makers 
often fail, because they do not recognize this fact. 

It is much easier to keep a clean factory than a dirty one ; 
the old saying that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure" is true here, as well as in other cases. 

50. Factory Surroundings. 

Having gotten the inside of the factory clean, why not make 
the outside of it to match? Plant some trees, and in painting 
the factory, choose white or some light color, that will not ab- 
sorb, but will reflect the heat. A little extra effort may be put 
into graveling the roadways, to prevent their being cut up in 
wet weather. Level off the ground for a little space, seed it 
down, and cut the grass with a lawn-mower. If a dry spell 
comes, there is plenty of water in the well, and the lawn can be 
sprinkled by using the steam pump. These things would take 
but little extra effort, and all will agree that the result would 
fully repay the effort. 

Why should it not be the rule that a cheese factory is to be 
kept not only clean, but attractive as well ? 



Seciietion and Contamination of Milk. 23 

QUESTIONS on chapter II. 

1. Describe the structure of the udder of a cow. 2. What 
can be said about the secretion of the milk in the udder? 3. How 
do samples of the fore milk and strippings compare as to fat 
content ? 4. How is the greater fat content of the strippings ex- 
plained? 5. At what time is the milk secreted? 6. What are 
the three sources of bad flavors in milk? 7. How does the flavor 
of feed get into the milk? 8. Will warm milk absorb odors? 
9. What are microbes or bacteria? 10. What can be said about 
the effect of different germs on milk? 11. What can be said 
about the bacillus known as coli communis? 12. How is milk 
infected? 13. What is the Wisconsin Curd Test and how is it 
used? 14. What is the value of the aeration of milk? 15. De- 
scribe some of the common aerators. 16. What can be said of 
the barn air at milking time ? 17. Why should the cows be kept 
clean? 18. Why should a cow's udder and side be dampened 
just before milking? 19. Why should milk be cooled after aerat- 
ing? 20. Why should the milk cans be covered over night? 
21. Why are wooden milk pails not to be used? 22. How 
should utensils be washed? 23. What is. the effect of wet floors 
and rubber boots on a maker's health? 24. How would you 
make the surroundings of the factory attractive? 



CHAPTER III. 
MILK TESTING. 



51. Development of Milk Testing. 

Wlien one stops to think that only eighteen years ago, or 
even less, the only means that a cheese-maker had of determin- 
ing the quality of milk was a cream tube, in which the milk was 
set for the cream to rise, and a lactometer that wonld read good 
milk when both skimmed and watered, he begins to realize what 
great progress has been made in milk testing in this brief time. 
This great change has been brought about by the work of the 
agricultural experiment stations, and this one line of progress 
is paying large dividends on all the money that has been in- 
vested in them. 

As indicated in Chapter I (12) the value of milk for cheese 
making is dependent on its fat content. "New coins are handled 
with suspicion," and when the new method of paying for milk 
according to the test was first recommended, farmers and dairy- 
men were slow to adopt it. At the present time, probably a 
majority of American Cheddar cheese factories are paying for 
milk in this way. 

52. The Babcock Test. 

The Babcock test for determining the fat content of milk 
was invented by Dr. S. M. Babcock of the Wisconsin Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station, and described in Bulletin No. 24, 
July, 1890; it is now not only in general use in this country, 
but in different countries of Europe, in India, New Zealand 
and Australia. It has literally ' ' gone around the world. ' '* 

The following apparatus is used in the Babcock test : Test 
bottles, pipette, acid measure, and centrifuge. 

*The Babcock Test is described in detail in "Testing Milk and Its Pro- 
ducts," by Pi'ofessors Farrington and Woll (18th edition, 1908; Mendota 
Book Co., Madison, Wis., publishers). Full directions for making tests of 
milk and other dairy products, and discussions of all phases of the subject 
will be found in the book. 

24 



Milk Testing. 



25 




Fig. 10. — A modern steam 
jTjg. s.— The first Babcock tester made. turbine tester. 




Fig. 9. — A modern Babeocli hand-tester. 



26 



Cheese Making. 



53. The Test Bottle. 

The Babcock test bottle holds about two ounces and has a 
long, narrow neck, about the size of a lead pencil. The neck has 
graduations from to 10, which represent a volume of two cubic 
centimeters. The scale is marked off into fifty divisions: every 



Milk Bottle. 




Acid Measure. 




Reading- the fat column in a 
Babcock test bottle. Readings 
are taken from a to b, not to o 
or to d. 



Pipette. 
Figs. 11-14. — Babcock Test Ware. 



Milk Testing. 27 

five divisions marks one per cent and each division is therefore 
two-tenths of one per cent. 

54. The Pipette. 

The pipette is a glass tube with a bulb in the middle for 
measuring the milk. There is a mark on the upper narrow stem 
indicating 17.6 c. c. ; this volume of average milk weighs eighteen 
grams. 

55. The Acid Measure. 

This is a glass cylinder with a 17.5 c. c. mark on it for meas- 
uring the sulphuric acid used in making the test. 

56. The Centrifuge. 

This is a machine for whirling the bottles. It consists of a 
drum 15 to 24 inches in diameter, with swinging sockets in 
the center for holding the bottles. The centrifuge is driven 
either by a crank or pulley and gear, by a steam turbine or by 
electricity. 

57. To Make the Test. 

The milk to be tested must be thoroughly mixed to get the 
fat gloubles evenly distributed. This can be done by pouring 
from one vessel to another several times. If the cream is some- 
what hardened on a sample of milk it can be dissolved by warm- 
ing the niilk a little, but this must be done with care as the milk 
will then churn easily. After the milk is thoroughly mixed, 
draw it up into the pipette by suction and then quickly place 
the finger over the upper end of it. By letting air in slowly 
under the finger the milk will run out till it drops to the 17.6 c. c. 
mark. Then deliver the contents into the bottle. Next measure 
17.5 e. c. sulphuric acid into the bottle, and by a circular motion 
mix the acid and the milk thoroughly till the milk is all dis- 
solved, that is, till no clots of curd are left. 

Then put the bottle in the centrifuge and whirl four min- 
utes. At the end of this time all the fat will be on the top of the 
liquid. Hot water is filled in to bring the fat up into the neck 
where the amount can be read on the scale. It is whirled another 
minute to bring the fat all into the neck in a solid mass. It 
must be read before it gets cold, while still in a perfectly liquid 
condition. The fat should be read off at a temperature of about 



28 Cheese Making. 

140° F. Better results may be obtained by first filling- water up 
to the neck and whirling, and then bringing the fat into the neck 
by a second filling prior to the final whirling. 

Several precautions should be observed to get uniformly 
clear readings and reliable tests. 

58. Strength of Acid. 

First, the acid should be commercial sulphuric acid of a 
specific gravity of 1.82 to 1.83. If too strong the fat will be 
charred and black specks will be found in the fat column. If 
too weak, there will be white matter with the fat. Dairy supply 
houses furnish a hydrometer for testing the specific gravity of 
the acid. If it is 1.81 it is too weak, and if over 1.83 too strong. 
If the acid is only a little too strong or too weak, the difficulty 
can be obviated by using a little more or a little less, as the case 
may require. One should observe the color of the fat. It ought 
to be a deep straw or yellow color. If white or light colored the 
acid is weak, if black it is too strong. As a general rule, there 
is little difficulty in getting good acid. Both milk and acid 
should have a temperature of about 70° when tests are made. 

Automatic acid measures can be obtained from supply 
houses which may be used for filling the bottles with the right 
amount of acid. The test bottles should be shaken one at a time 
and not in a tray, as in that case the milk in some bottles may 
not be thoroughly dissolved. 

The acid should go to the bottom of the bottle without mix- 
ing much with the milk before the final shaking. If it mixes 
partially and then is allowed to stand, a portion of the milk will 
be acted upon too strongly by the acid, with the result that the 
fat will be charred and black specks will be found in the fat 
column. 

59. Speed of the Centrifuge. 

The speed of the ordinary tester, which is about eighteen 
inches in diameter, should be about one thousand revolutions 
per minute. The fat is forced to the top of the liquid by the 
centrifugal force, and unless this is sufficient all the fat will not 
be separated. If the speed is too great the bottles may be broken 
during the whirling. Steam turbine testers should always be 
provided with a steam gauge or a speed indicator which will 



Milk Testing. 



29 



show whether the speed required for the particular tester is 
maintained. 

60. Reading the Fat. 

The column of fat should be read from the bottom line, 
where it meets the water, to the highest point where it joins the 
glass. The upper surface is curved, and quite often the test is 
read low by reading only to the lower part of the curve. It 
should be read as high as the fat goes in testing milk. The same 
thing applies when reading tests of whey. It is quite often read 
two-tenths when four-tenths is the amount present. A pair of 
dividers will aid in measuring the fat. Open them to the full 
length of the fat column, then place the lower point on the zero 
line, and the upper point will show the per cent present at a 
glance. "When reading without dividers, errors in subtracticn 
may occur. (See Fig. 14.) 




Fig. 16. — Torsion balance with percentage beams. 



Fig. 15.— Test bottle 
for cheese and cream. 




Fig. 17. — Troemner balance, for testing cheese. 



Skim milk test bottles with specially narrow necks may be 
used in testing whey as well as skim milk. 
61. Testing Cheese. 

Cheese may be tested by the Babcock test for its fat con- 
tent, as well as milk. In making a test of milk, 17.6 c. c, or 18 
grams is used. Cheese contains about one-third fat, so that we 



30 Cheese Making. 

cannot take 18 grams; but if we balance the bottle on a small 
scale, sneli as druggists use for prescriptions, and weigh in four 
or five grams of cheese, this will make a convenient amount for 
the test. The cheese can be cut into small strips which will 
drop down the neck of the bottle. Then add fifteen cubic centi- 
meters of boiling water and a few drops of ammonia, and shake 
till the cheese is dissolved into a creamy consistency. When the 
bottle is cold, add acid, and test as in the case of milk. The read- 
ing of the fat is then multiplied by i^, a being the weight of the 
cheese taken. The quotient will be the per cent of fat in the 
cheese. If five grams of cheese is weighed out and the reading 
of the fat is 7.1, we have (7.1 X 18) ^5, or 25.5% fat in the 
cheese. 

A little balance with weights and a bar, reading to one- 
tenth of a gram, is sold at a low price by dairy supply houses ; 
balances with percentage beams are also on the market and will 
be found convenient in practical work. (Figs. 16 and 17.) 
62. Quevenne Lactometer. 

The Quevenne Lactometer is an instrument for ascertaining 
the specific gravity of milk. On the scale are a set of figures 
reading from 15 down to 40. These figures mean thousandths, 
that is, 30 means 1.030 specific gravity. If we have a barrel 
that will hold 1,000 lbs. of water at 60° F., and fill it with milk 
that reads 30 on our lactometer, we would have 1,030 lbs. of milk 
in the barrel. If the milk is heated above 60°, one-tenth of a 
pound will flow over the top for each degree above 60° F., and 
likewise for every degree the milk is lowered, a tenth of a pound 
more can be put into the barrel. Sixty has been taken as an 
arbitrary standard of temperature for specific gravity of milk, 
and we must temper the milk near to that point. If it varies a 
few degrees, the reading can be corrected by adding or sub- 
tracting one-tenth to the reading of the lactometer for every 
degree of variation in temperature. Thus: if the lactometer 
reading is 32, and the temperature 65°, add .5 to 32, which 
would make the corrected reading for 60° 32.5. The best lac- 
tometers are made with an inside thermometer and these will be 
found very convenient in factory work. 



Milk Testing. 31 

63. Board of Health Lactometer. 

The Board of Health Lactometer has an arbitrary scale 
reading from to 120 ; 100 shows a specific gravity of 1.029, which 
corresponds to 29 on the Quevenne scale. This is supposed to 
be the lowest specific gravity of pure milk, the average being 
about 1.032 sp. gr. This scale can be converted into the Que- 
venne scale by multiplying the reading by .29. By so doing one 
can use the Board of Health instrument if a Quevenne is not 
available. 

64. Detecting Watered Milk. 

The solids other than fat make the milk denser and raise 
the lactometer reading, while the fat makes it lighter and lowers 
the reading. Each per cent of fat lowers it seven-tenths of a 
degree. If we multiply the per cent of fat found by the Bab- 
cock test by .7 and add the product to the lactometer reading it 
will give the reading of the milk if the fat were not present. If 
the specific gravity of the other solids is divided by 3.8, the re- 
sult will be per cent of solids not fat. 

For instance, the lactometer reading is 31.5, the tempera- 
ture 65°, and the fat 4 per cent, what is the per cent of solids 
not fat? 

31.5 + .5 = 32 + (4 X .7 = 2.8) = 34.8 ^ 3.8 = 9.10% 
solids not fat. 

If the solids not fat run below 8.5 per cent it is a poor 
sample of milk and has very likely been watered, especially in 
the case of mixed herd milk. 

If 9 per cent solids not fat be taken as a basis for pure 
milk, and we find but 7.0 per cent,, the way to get the amount 
of water added is readily found by proportion : 

7.0:9.0::iC : 100 
9.0a; = 700 
a:;= .66-|- 

66-\-% is the milk found to be present in the sample or 
about 34 per cent water has been added. 

When patrons are paid by the fat test it does not pay to go 
to the trouble of hauling water to the factory.* 

*For other methods of determining- adulteration of milk, by watering- or 
skimming, see "Testing Milk and Its Products." 18th ed., p. 113. 



32 Cheese Making. 

In paying for milk by the test, composite samples are tested 
as follows : 

65. Composite Samples. 

The samples should be saved from each patron's milk every 
morning by stirring the milk in the weigh can with a dipper. 
An ounce measure is then filled with the milk, and emptied into 
a sample jar, labeled with the patron's name or number. 

A still better way is to take the sample with a milk thief, 
which is a long tube three-fourths of an inch in diameter, with 
a valve in the bottom. By lowering this into the 
weigh can an accurate sample of the milk runs in 
at the bottom and the valve is closed by striking 
the bottom of the can. The tube is then drawn out 
and emptied through the upper end into the sample 
jar. The Scovell sampling tube (Fig. 18) is an- 
other convenient apparatus for sampling milk in 
the factory weigh-can. 

66. Milk Samples, How Preserved. 

A small quantity of potassium bichromate, 
enough to color a jar of milk a bright yellow, is 
put into the clean jar; this chemical mil preserve 
the milk for about two weeks. 

Corrosive sublimate tablets sold by dealers in 
dairy supplies are now quite generally used and 
may give more satisfactory results; they are very 
poisonous and must be handled with care. 

At the end of a week the composite sample of 
each patron's milk is tested, and the reading of 
The^scoveii ^hc Babcock test shows the percentage of fat in 
Sampling -j-j^g -^{i^ Supplied by the patron during the week. 
For method of making dividends according to 
the test, see Chapter XIII. 
67. Test for Casein in Milk. 

If it is desired to determine the amounts of casein in differ- 
ent samples of milk, the following test invented by Prof. Hart 
of the Wisconsin Station in 1907* may be used to advantage in 
factory work as well as in chemical laboratories: Two c. c. of 

*Report 24, p. 117. 



Milk Testing. 33 

chloroform, 20 c. c. of a .25 per cent acetic-acid solution, and 5 
c. c. of milk (both these latter of a temperature of about 70° F.) 
is measured into small tubes of special construction holding 
about 35 c. c, the lower end of which is narrow and graduated 
to 1 c. c. The mixture is shaken for 15 to 20 seconds and the 
tubes then whirled 7l^ to 8 minutes in a centrifuge of 15 inches 
diameter, making 2000 revolutions per minute. The use of a 
metronome is recommended to facilitate the control of the speed. 
After whirling, the tubes are taken out of the centrifuge and 
allowed to stand in an upright position for 10 minutes. The per- 
centage of casein may then be read off directly from the scale 
on the lower end of the tubes, each division of which represents 
.2 per cent of casein when 5 c. c. of milk are measured out. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III. 

1. When and by whom was the Babcock milk test invented ? 
2. Describe the test bottle. 3. What is the volume included in 
the scale of the milk bottle and how is it divided? 4. What is 
the volume of the pipette and what weight of milk will it hold ? 
5. What is the volume of the acid measure? 6. What is the 
diameter of the centrifuge? 7. How is a test made? 8. What' 
kind and how strong is the acid used? 9. At what speed should 
the centrifuge be run ? 10. Describe how the fat should be read. 
11. How can cheese be tested with the Babcock test? 12. De- 
scribe the Quevenne lactometer. 13. Describe the Board of 
Health lactometer and state its relation to the QjUevenne. 14. 
How much does each per cent of fat lower the lactometer read- 
ing? 15. Give method and rule for detecting watered milk? 
16. What is a c omposite sample? 17. Describe the Scovell 
sampling tube. 18. How are composite samples preserved? 19. 
Describe Hart's test for casein in milk. 



CHAPTER IV. 
ENZYMES. 



68. Two Kinds of Ferments. 

As has been previously described, bacteria are the cause of 
the breaking-up of organic compounds into other compounds; 
as for example, milk sugar into lactic acid, or into alcohol and 
gas. Such changes or fermentations are termed organized fer- 
ments because they are the result of the growth of certain or- 
ganisms or germs. 

There is another class of changes which take place as a re- 
sult, not of bacterial growth, but of the action of a chemical 
substance known in contradistinction to the organized ferments, 
as unorganized ferments or enzymes. Such, for instance, is a 
substance found in the saliva known as ptyalin, which has the 
property of changing starch to sugar. In the stomach is found 
pepsin which has the property of changing solid proteids to 
soluble peptones, and in the pancreatic juicesi is found trypsin, 
another enzyme with properties similar to pepsin. These 
enzymes are secreted by the protoplasm of cells which make up 
the particular glands where they are usually found. Bacteria 
have this property of secreting enzymes, and as our knowledge 
of fermentations increases it may be found that the changes we 
now suppose to be due to the direct action of the living proto- 
plasm in the cells of plants and animals, are really due to 
enzymes secreted by the protoplasm. Enzymes have some char- 
acteristics in common in the manner in which they behave under 
changes of temperature. They are most active at temperatures 
near blood heat (100° F.) and cease to act at low temperatures, 
while at high temperatures (150° to 200°) they are destroyed. 
The enzymes do not seem to be used up in their action, but will 
work over and over again. 

34 



Enzymes. 35 

69. Galactase. 

Babcock and Kussell in 1897 described an enzyme in milk 
to which they gave the name galactase. When milk is rendered 
sterile by chloroform, it will curdle "upon standing as if it con- 
tained rennet, and the casein will be digested, that is, it is 
chan^-ed to soluble peptones. Galactase is killed at a tempera- 
ture of 180° F. Its optimum temperature is about 100° F. It 
is believed that this enzyme is at least the major cause of the 
breaking-down of the casein in cheese and its change into soluble 
peptones and is therefore a most important factor in the ripen- 
ing of Cheddar cheese. 

70. Rennet Extract. 

Since early times an extract from the calf's stomach has 
been used to curdle milk in the manufacture of cheese. Such an 
extract is supposed to contain two enzymes, one, rennin, having 
the property of coagulating the milk, and the other, pepsin, 
which afterwards digests the curd. 

71. Rennets, Where Obtained. 

Commercial rennet is the stomach of new-born calves 
which are slaughtered before being fed; the stomachs are 
cleaned and dried, before they are marketed. 

The best rennets come from Bavaria; it is stated that the 
City of Copenhagen alone consumes annually 5,000,000 rennets 
in the manufacture of rennet extract. Cheese makers used to 
buy the rennets and make their own extracts as needed, and the 
majority of Swiss cheese makers do so now, but extracts, pow- 
ders and tablets are now manufactured on an extensive scale, 
and are much more uniform and reliable than the old home- 
made extracts, which are likely to vary greatly. 

The preparation of rennet powder is too complicated a pro- 
cess for a cheese maker to follow, but one can make his own 
extract for the season, if he wishes, as follows : 

72. How Rennet Extract Is Made. 

Prepare a sufficient number of rennets, say five hundred, 
by splitting them open so that the water can get into them. 
Then place the rennets in an oak barrel and fill it with water 
until the rennets are well covered. No more water than is nec- 
essary to dissolve the ferment should be used. 



36 Cheese Making. 

A little salt should be added to the water, say three pounds 
of salt to one hundred pounds of water. The rennets should be 
stirred vigorously every day, to facilitate the solution of the fer- 
ment, and at the end of a week the liquid should be drawn off 
and the rennets wrung out with a clothes-wringer. They should 
be put into water again and soaked for another week, and the 
same operation repeated. As a usual thing, the ferment has not 
all been extracted from the stomachs till they have been soaked 
for four weeks. The liquid that has been obtained by soaking 
the rennets should be filtered through clean straw, charcoal and 
sand, and then an excess of salt added to preserve it. 

The extract should be clear though of a dark color. The 
first sign of the decomposition of rennet extract is a muddy 
appearance. 

If extract is prepared by the cheese-maker, enough to last 
the whole season should be made in the spring when the weather 
is cool ; the extract should be kept in a cool place. 

73. Reliable Brands to be Preferred. 

The surest way of getting extract that can be depended on 
is to buy some reliable brand. 

The practice of preparing extract every few days is not to 
be recommended as the strength of the different lots will vary 
and it will therefore not be possible to make cheese that will cure 
evenly. The use of whey as a solvent for the rennet is not ad- 
visable, because other ferments are introduced in the whey. 

The comparison of extracts and their relative value ynV. be 
taken up after the rennet test has been explained. 

74. Effect of Heat on Rennet. 

Rennet will not curdle milk at a very low temperature, but 
as the temperature is raised it will begin to work and act with 
increasing rapidity until at a point above 100° F. it is injured. 
By putting cold rennet into warm milk it may work faster up 
to 120° or 130° F., but when the rennet in weak solutions is 
heated to 105° F. it begins to be weakened. A strong solution 
may be held at 150° for fifteen minutes without being entirely 
destroyed, but it will be rendered much weaker. These high 
temperatures do not destroy the power of the rennet instantly 
but gradually. 



Enzymes. 37 

75. Rennet Does Not Exhaust Itself. 

As has been said concerning enzymes, rennet does not seem 
to spend its energy, bnt will act over and over again. If a 
quantity of milk is coagulated and the whey applied to a like 
quantity of milk, the milk will be coagulated ; this might be done 
indefinitely, if it were not for getting a larger volume of whey 
than we have of milk. 

76. Effect of Acid on the Action of Rennet. 

It has been said that the rapidity in the action of rennet is 
greatly affected by the temperature of the milk, but we find, if 
the temperature of the milk is held constant, the more lactic acid 
there is in the milk the faster the rennet will act, or if any acid 
be artificially added to the milk in quantities not sufficient to 
coagulate it, the action of the rennet will be hastened; on 
the other hand, if alkali be added to the milk, the action of the 
rennet will be retarded. 

77. Rennet Extracts Not Alike. 

Another cause for varying rapidity of rennet action is the 
difference in the strength of the rennet extracts used. Rennets 
vary as to the amount of ferment contained in them, and it is 
very unlikely that two lots of extracts will be exactly alike. 

78. Rennet Action Dependent on Three Factors. 

It has been shown that the rapidity with which rennet co- 
agulates milk is dependent on: 

1. The strength of the rennet extract. 

2. The temperature of the milk. 

3. The acidity of the milk. 

If the same rennet is used at the same temperature of the 
milk each time, the variation in the rapidity with which it ca- 
agulates the milk, must be due solely to the acidity or ripeness 
of the milk. 

79. J. B. Harris Discovers the Rennet Test. 

In the middle of the eighties J. B. Harris conceived this 
idea, and used a teacupful of milk from the vat, to which he 
added a teaspoonful of rennet and noted the number of seconds 
required to coagulate the milk. When the milk was ripened 



38 



Cheese Making. 



do\^Ti to a certain number of seconds, lie foimd that he could 

foretell approximately the time that it would take for acid to 

develop. 

80. Rennet a Powerful Agent. 

Rennet is a very powerful agent. If four ounces of extract 
is used to one thousand pounds of milk, it is one part of rennet 
to four thousand of milk, and sometimes the proportion will be 




Fig. 19. — Glass Graduates. 

as wide as one to sixteen thousand. It will be easily seen that 
since the rennet is such a powerful agent, it is not likely to be 
an entirely accurate test where a teaspoon is used for measuring 
the rennet, for then it would be difficult to measure exactly 
twice alike. Therefoie, in place of the teaspoon, a minim or 
dram graduate was substituted, and for the teacup an eight- 
ounce glass graduate such as druggists use. This M^as much bet- 
ter than the first crude apparatus for making the test. 

81. Glass Graduates for Measuring. 

But the minim graduate is funnel shaped, and the top being 
broad in proportion to its voliune, the chances for error are still 
too great in measuring. In actual practice, through haste in 



Enzymes. 



39 



making the test, two or three drops of extract were likely to be 
left in the narrow bottom of the minim graduate, and the maker 
would be confused in not getting the results he expected by de- 
pending on it. 

J. H. Monrad therefore proposed a new set of apparatus, 
which, though not so simple, leaves less chance for error. 

82. The Monrad Rennet Test. 

The apparatus for the Monrad test consists of a 160 e. e. 
tin cylinder for measuring the milk, a 5 c. c. pipette, a 50 c. c. 
glass flask, and a half -pint tin basin. By filling the tin cylinder 
till it overflows it always gives the right measure of milk quickly. 




Fig-. 20. — The Monrad Rennet Test. 

Measuring the milk in a glass graduate is difficult, as it is hard 
to get the milk just to the mark, and if the glass is covered with 
white milk it is difficult to see the mark. 

The rennet is first measured with the 5 c. c. pipette (Fig. 20). 
The rennet can very easily be measured by this instrument, and 
the tube being narrow makes the measurement accurate. The 
rennet in the pipette is delivered into the 50 c. c. flask, and 



40 Cheese Making. 

what little rennet adheres to the inside of the pipette is rinsed 
into the flask with some water. The flask is then filled with water 
to the 50 c. c. mark on the neek, and the solution mixed by 
shaking. The temperature of the milk should be 86° F. It is 
measured in the tin cylinder, emptied into the half-pint basin, 
and 5 c. c. of the dilute extract is measured into the 160 c. c. of 
milk. The number of seconds required to curdle the milk is then 
noted. If a few specks of charcoal are scattered on the milk 
and the milk started into rotary motion in the dish with a ther- 
mometer^ the instant of curdling can be noted by the stopping 
of the specks. They will stop so suddenly as to seem to start back 
in the opposite direction. 

83. Use Thermometer to Stir Milk. 

By using a thermometer, the temperature can be constantly 
watched; and if the temperature should fall, it can quickly be 
brought back to 86° F. by setting the basin in a pail of warm 
water for a few seconds. 

84. The Marschall Rennet Test. 

Another ingenious form of rennet test which is used in 
many factories is the Marschall test, as it keeps its own time. It 
consists of an ounce bottle with a mark on it to indicate 20 c. c. ; 
and a spatula for stirring the milk ; a 1 c. c. pipette is used for 
measuring rennet into the bottle in which it is diluted up to the 
mark on the bottle ; a test basin, which is a vessel of a little over 
a pint capacity, on the inner surface of which is a scale begin- 
ning with at the top and numbering by half divisions to 7 near 
the bottom of thd vessel. A hole in the bottom of the vessel is 
fitted with a cork in which is inserted a glass tube of a very fine 
bore. (See fig. 21.) 

85. How to Use the Test. 

To make a test the vessel is filled with milk at the desired 
temperature, and when the milk has drained through the little 
glass tube until the top is at the mark, the diluted rennet is 
stirred in with the spatula. When the rennet thickens the milk 
sufficiently no more milk will run out and the operator notes the 
point on the scale to which the milk has run. The riper the milk 
the quicker it will thicken, with a corresponding lower reading 
on the scale. 



Enzymes. 



41 



86. Marschall Tests Not AH Alike. 

Unfortunately the caliber of the glass tubes, in the bottom 
of this test may vary so that different amounts of milk may run 
out from different Marschall tests. One may compare results 
with the same test from one day to another, but a great deal of 
confusion may result from comparing the results obtained with 
different Marschall tests. 




Pig. 21. — The Marschall Rennet Test. A, graduated cup; B, 1 c. c. pi- 
pette; C, glass in which to dilute the rennet; D, spatula for stirring the milk. 

87. Errors to Be Avoided with Marschall Apparatus. 

1. As there is no thermometer included in the Marschall 
apparatus the operator is likely to forget that temperature af- 
fects the rennet action. One should always temper the vessel 
in cold weather before using, and should carefully observe the 
temperature of the milk, both when starting the test and at the 
time of coagulation. A few degrees in temperature will modify 
the results very materially. 

2. One should exercise great care in running the milk into 
the milk in the vat. Where a large number of tests are made 
the rennet added may coagulate the milk. 

3. The results with two pieces of apparatus can not be com- 
pared until they have been used first in testing the same milk. 

88. Pepsin as a Substitute for Rennet Extract. 

Scale pepsin has been used as a substitute for rennet in 
cheese making. It is made from stomachs of hogs. It both 
curdles and digests milk and so raises the question whether the 
curdling and digesting are not really after all two properties of 
one ferment. Scale pepsin solutions do not curdle very sweet 
milk as readily as the rennet extracts do. In milk containing .2 



42 Cheese Making. 

per cent acid no difference can be observed. In such milk five 
grams or 75 grains of the scale pepsin is equal to four ounces of 
Hansen's rennet extract. Pepsin makes cheese of excellent 
flavor and texture. Enough cheese has been made to establish 
the value of pepsin in the making of Cheddar cheese.* 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV. 

1. What are the two general classes of ferments ? 2, What 
are enzymes and where do they originate ? 3. What is the effect 
of temperature on enzymes? 4. Who discovered galactase and 
where is it found ? 5. Describe galactase. 6. What is a rennet ? 
7. How are rennets preserved? 8. What is rennet extract? 9. 
Where do the best rennets come from? 10. How is rennet ex- 
tract made? 11. Why are reliable brands of commercial ex- 
tracts to be preferred to homemade extracts ? 12. What isi the 
effect of heat and acidity on rennet action ? 13. On what three 
factors is the rapidity of rennet action dependent? 14. Who 
invented the rennet test? 15. Why are glass graduates used in 
a rennet test inaccurate? 16. Describe the Monrad rennet test. 
17. Describe the Marschall rennet test. 18. In what respect may 
Marschall tests differ? 19. What errors are to be avoided in 
using a Marschall test? 20. What is scale pepsin? 21. What is 
the effect of acidity of milk upon the curdling power of pepsin ? 
22. How does scale pepsin compare in strength with Hansen's 
rennet extract? 

♦Experiments with pepsin in cheese making have been conducted at Ont. 
Agric. College (Reports 30, p. 74 and 32, p. 108). 



CHAPTER V. 
THE DEPORTMENT OF RENNET. 



89. Experiments in Rennet Action. 

In order tliat the student may better comprehend the de- 
portment of rennet under different conditions, we shall briefly 
state the effect of the various conditions to which it may be sub- 
jected, and give some experiments with the apparatus used in 
the Monrad test, that will enable the student to become familiar 
with the action of rennet under varying conditions. 

90. Effect of Acid and Alkali. 

Acid in the milk accelerates and alkali retards coagulation. 

Experiment (a). Make a test of a sample of milk with the 
Monrad rennet test, observing carefully all conditions as to tem- 
perature, strength of rennet, etc. Record the result in your 
notebook. Now add a small quantity of dilute hydrochloric acid 
to the milk, being careful to stir this constantly while slowly ad- 
ding the acid. If in a laboratory where decinormal solutions of 
acid and alkali are available, use about 25 c. c. of hydrochloric 
acid to a quart of milk, and note the number of seconds required 
to coagulate the milk, carefully observing all of the conditions 
for making a test properly. 

Experiment (h). Repeat the experiment with an increased 
quantity of acid added to the milk. 

Experiment (c). Add slowly a small quantity of dilute 
soda lye, being careful to stir the milk while adding it, and then 
make a test as before. Keep careful notes in your notebook. 

Experiment (d). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk 
and set it where it will remain warm. Make tests half an hour 
or an hour later and note the time required for coagulation. 
The shortening in the time required is due to the ripening of the 
milk; the bacteria present have been changing the milk sugar 
into lactic acid. 

43 



44 Cheese Making. 

91. Effect of Water in Milk. 

Diluting milk with water retards coagulation. 

Experiment (a). Make a careful rennet test of a sample of 
milk. Next take one part of water and three parts of the milk 
in question. Mix them and then make a rennet test of the 
mixture. 

Experiment (h). Repeat the experiment with one part of 
water and two parts of milk. 

Experiment (c). Repeat the experiment with one part of 
water and one part of milk. Can you determine any law gov- 
erning the rate of coagulation in relation to the amount of water 
present? Try these experiments with milks of different acidity. 

92. Effect of Salt (NaCl). 

Salt in the milk checks the action of rennet, five per cent 
stopping it altogeher. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk, 
and record the result. Now add one per cent of salt by weight 
and make a careful rennet test. How does the salt affect the 
test? Try the same experiment with two, three, four and five 
per cent of salt in the milk. 

93. Effect of Temperature. 

Raising the temperature up to a certain point hastens, and 
lowering it retards, rennet action. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test at the standard tem- 
perature of 86° F., and record the result in your notebook. Now 
make tests at 95°, 100°, 110°, 120°, 130° and 140°. 

Experim^ent (h). Make a test at 86° and then try tests at 
80°, 70°, 60°, 50° and 40°. If much time is consumed in mak- 
ing the tests, the student should make occasional tests at 86° F. 
to detect the rate of ripening of the milk. 

94. Effect of Anaesthetics. 

Anesthetics, like chloroform and ether, suspend protoplas- 
mic action but do not affect enzymes. In this way it is possible 
to distinguish between organized and unorganized ferments. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk 
and note the number of seconds required. Now add about 3 per 
cent of chloroform to the sample and shake it in a bottle or 



The Deportment of Rennet. . 45 

cylinder. Next make a rennet test of the milk. It curdles the 
milk, showing that rennet is an enzyme. 

95. Thermal Destruction Point. 

At about 104° or 105° F. rennet in weak solutions is de- 
stroyed. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk 
and note the number of seconds required. Next heat the rennet 
solution to 100° for ten minutes and try a test with it on the 
same milk. Try heating it to 105°, 110°, 115° and 120° for five 
minutes and make tests after each heating. Do not forget to 
record the results in your notebook. 

Experiment (h). Note the length of time required to co- 
agulate 160 c. c. of milk) at 86° F, with 5 c. c. of strong com- 
mercial rennet extract. Next heat a portion of this strong ren- 
net to 150° F, for five minutes and note the length of time re- 
quired for coagulating 160 c. c. of milk at 86° F. with 5 c. c. 
of the extract. 

96. Effect of Strength of Rennet Solution. 

For a long time it was supposed that as the strength of the 
rennet solution was increased, the length of time required for 
coagulation was inversely shortened. This, however, is not true. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk. 

1. Make up a new solution of rennet, measuring two 5 c. c. 
pipettefuls of rennet in the 50 c. c. flask. This makes the ren- 
net solution twice as strong as the solution commonly used. 
Note the time required for coagulation with this solution. 

2. Make up a solution with three pipettefuls, or 15 c. c. of 
rennet in the 50 c. c. and make a test. 

3. Make up a solution with four pipettefuls, or 20 c. c. in 
the 50 e. c. What are the results 1 

4. Make up a solution with 25 c. c. of strong rennet diluted 
to 50 c. c. It is suggested that the student secure a piece of 
cross-section paper and chart out the results obtained. If the 
rate of coagulation was diminished inversely in proportion to the 
increase in strength the results of these tests would, when re- 
corded, make a straight line across the chart, whereas they really 
make a curved line. 



46 Cheese Making. 

97. Soluble Calcium Salts Required for Rennet Action. 

It has been previously stated that the soluble salts of cal- 
cium must be present in the milk or the rennet will not act (4). 

Fill a Babcock pipette with rennet extract, add three or 
four drops of phenolphtalein solution and titrate with -i\ 
alkali. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk. 
Add a small quantity of a dilute solution of calcium chloride 
(CaClo) to the milk and make another test. The coagulation 
will be accelerated. How much? 

Experiment (h). Heat a portion of the sample of milk to 
190° F. for ten minutes, cool it down and make a test. It will 
not coagulate, for the calcium salts have been rendered insoluble 
by the heat. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk, 
add 25 c. c. of a strong solution of ammonium oxalate, and make 
a rennet test. It will not coagulate because the soluble calcium 
salts have been changed to insoluble calcium oxalate. 

98. Effect of Milk Preservatives. 

There is a very pernicious practice among some dairynten 
of using antiseptics to keep milk from souring. Among them 
are preservaline (boracic acid) and formaldehyde solution sold 
under the name of freezene, etc. These substances not only 
check the necessary bacterial fermentations in the manufacture 
of the cheese, but affect the rennet action. 

Experiment (a). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk. 
Then add 1 per cent of boracic acid to the sample and make a 
rennet test. Try varying quantities of the boracic acid. 

Experiment (h). Make a rennet test of a sample of milk 
and then add 1 per cent of formaldehyde solution to the milk 
and make a test. Try it with one-tenth of 1 per cent of formal- 
dehyde in the milk. 

Question: Should milk adulterated mth preservatives be 
accepted at a cheese factory in view of the preceding results ? 

99. Scale Pepsin Compared with Rennet. 

Dissolve four grams of scale pepsin in 100 c. c. of cold 
water. Now make rennet tests with this on milks of varying 



The Deportment op Rennet. 47 

acidity, at the same time making tests with rennet extract on 
the same milks, for comparison. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V. 

1. What is the effect of acid in the milk on rennet action? 
2. What is the effect of alkali on rennet action? 3. What is 
the effect of water in the milk on rennet action 1 4. What is the 
effect of salt in the milk on rennet action? 5. What is the effect 
of temperature on rennet action? 6. At what temperature is 
rennet action destroyed? 7. What is the effect of angesthetics 
on rennet? 8. Is the time of curdling milk inversely propor- 
tional to the strength of the rennet solution? 9. What part of 
the ash of the milk is required for rennet action ? 10. What is 
the effect of boracic acid on rennet action ? 11. What is the ef- 
fect of formaldehyde on rennet action? 12. What is the effect 
of acidity of milk on the curdling power of the pepsin solution? 
13. What is the chemical reaction of pepsin solution and rennei" 
extract ? 



CHAPTER VI. 
CHEDDAR CHEESE. 



loo. History of Cheddar Cheese. 

For some centuries cheese has been made in the farm dairies 
of England and Scotland. The people that came to America 
continued the manufacture at home of their surplus milk into 
cheese. The process varied in different dairies and our British 
cousins have been particularly jealous of their way of making, 
being careful not to give away any of their secrets as they be- 
lieved them to be. The term Cheddar came from a town of that 
name near Bristol. 




Fig. 22. — Students making Cheddar cheese. 

loi. Rise of Cheese Factory System in New York. 

The factory system of making cheese started in America. 
Jesse Williams, of Oneida County, New York, was the first fac- 
tory operator. In 1851 he and his sons, located on different 
farms, brought their milk together and it was made into cheese 
under his supervision. From this beginning the factory system 
developed in New York and was carried into other states and 
Canada. 

48 



Cheddar Cheese. 49 

■» 

102. In Ohio. 

In Ohio the first factory was built by Mr. Budlong, at Cbar- 
don, Geauga County, in 1860. The second one was built by Mr. 
Bartlett at Munson, Geauga County, in 1861. In 1862 John I. 
Eldridge built the third one in Aurora ToAvnship, Portage 
County. The building is yet standing, but is not in use at this 
time as a new building close by has taken its place. In 1863 
Hurd Bros, built a factory at Aurora Station, which has been in 
continual operation to the present time. After 1863 the fac- 
tories multiplied very rapidly in Ohio. 

103. In Wisconsin. 

In "Wisconsin the factory system dates from about 1864, 
when Chester H'azen started a factory at Ladoga, Fond du Lac 
County, and Stephen Faville started one near Watertown. At 
the present time there are about sixteen hundred cheese fac- 
tories in the state, of which number probably about eleven hun- 
dred make Cheddar cheese, the others being Swiss, Brick and 
Limburger. 

104. Two Processes of Manufacture. 

There are two processes of manufacturing Cheddar cheese, 
one, the granular system, in which the curd is kept in the granu- 
lar form from the time the whey is drawn until put to press ; 
and the other, the matting system-, in which the curd is allowed 
to mat into a solid mass as soon as the whey is removed, and is 
afterward milled to get it into the right condition for salting 
before pressing. 

105. Cheddar System Proper. 

The system in which the curd is matted is termed the Ched- 
dar System. It produces a more meaty texture and uniform 
grade of cheese and has largely superseded the granular system 
at the present time. 

The Cheddar system as improved in the United States and 
Canada has been introduced into Scotland and England through 
Mr. Drummond, an American, in charge of the Kilmarnock 
dairy school. 

The following pages will treat of the best methods as we 
know them today for making Cheddar cheese. 



50 



Cheese Making. 



FIRST STEPS IN CHEESE MAKING. 



io6. Test for Over-Ripe Milk. 

Milk that has more than two-tenths of 1 per cent of lactic 
acid should not be received for cheese making. But as milk 
will not taste sour until it reaches nearly three-tenths of 1 per 
cent of acid, it is difficult to determine by the taste when to re- 
ject such milk. 

The Farrington acid test can here be brought into use and 
the discrimination quickly made. The apparatus consists of a 






P) Ounce"BoUle.lMcQsur€ 

Fig. 23. — Farington's apparatus for rapid estimation of the acidity of 
apparently sweet milli or cream. 

white teacup, an eight-ounce wide-mouth bottle, and a measure 
made by soldering a wire handle onto a No. 10 brass cartridge 
shell. Eight Farrington alkaline tablets are dissolved in the 
eight-ounce bottle of water, which makes a red liquid. A 
measure of the suspected milk is put into the teacup and then 
two measures of the red liquid added. If on stirring it, the pink 
shade remains, there is not two-tenths of a per cent of acid 
present and the milk can be accepted. If, on the other hand, the 
pink color disappears, there is too much acid present and the 
milk should be rejected.* 

*See "Testing Milk and Its Products," 18th ed., p. 130. 



Cheddae Cheese. 51 

107. Stir Milk to Keep Cream Down. 

"While the milk is being received it should be stirred in the 
vat to prevent cream from rising. As soon as all the milk has 
been received and the quantity figured up, the steam should be 
turned on and the milk heated to 86° F,, and a rennet test made. 
If the cheese maker is suspicious that the milk may be over-ripe, 
he should make a rennet test before the milk in the vat is heated 
up to 86° F., by taking his sample for the rennet test in the 
basin in which the test is made and warming it in a pail of 
warm water. 

If the milk is found to be over-ripe, he mil have to hurry 
the process to keep ahead of the fermentation. On the other 
hand, if he finds the milk very sweet, and that he will have to 
wait an hour or more for it to ripen, he should use a starter. 

108. Ripening the Milk. 

If the milk is ripened so as to coagulate in the same num- 
ber of seconds each day, one can tell very closely the time when 
the whey can be drawn off from the curd. It should be ripened 
to a point where in two hours from the time the rennet is added 
to the milk there will be ' ' one-eighth of an inch of acid ' ' on the 
curd, as we shall see later on. (135.) 

With a first-class quality of rennet extract the milk when 
ripened to thirty seconds works off in about the right time, but 
such extract is very strong, one ounce being sufficient to coagu- 
late one thousand pounds of milk in twenty minutes. If, how- 
ever, the rennet extract was so weak that it would require four 
ounces of it to coagulate one thousand pounds of the same milk 
in twenty minutes, it would be only one-fourth as strong as the 
former rennet, and the milk would then have to be ripened so 
as to coagulate in one hundred and twenty seconds instead of in 
thirty seconds. 

109. How to Ripen Milk to the Right Point. 

At the beginning of the season's work the cheese maker has 
nothing to guide him as to the ripeness of the milk, because he 
does not know the strength of the rennet extract at his disposal. 
The first day he makes cheese, he must make a rennet test of his 
milk at the time he sets it and then observe how the milk acts. 
If the milk is too sweet, he can calculate about how much riper 



52 Cheese Making. 

it must be to work just right, and in a few days he will have the 
matter entirely under his control. Cheese makers should never 
neglect to use the rennet test, for it enables them to judge defi- 
nitely the condition of their milk. 

When a maker is troubled with tainted milk it is often nec- 
essary to ripen a little lower than with good milk, for the bad 
flavor, as we have already learned, is due to some harmful var- 
iety of bacteria which crowd out the lactic ferments. 
no. Definition of a Starter. 

A starter is a small quantity of milk in which the lactic 
fermentation has been allowed to develop ; there are therefore 
millions upon millions of the desired kinds of bacteria in a 
small quantity of it, and when these are put into the milk in the 
vat, they increase very rapidly and hasten the ripening of the 
milk. 

111. What to Use for a Starter. 

The milk for the starter should be saved from one patron's 
milk from the morning or evening before, and should be the 
best flavored milk available, for the whole vat will be made 
like it. 

From what has been previously said (28) it will be ob- 
served that the milk selected as above is the kind of milk desired. 
If the Wisconsin curd test is used the milk that habitually gives 
good curds can be selected. Even in that case a bad fermenta- 
tion may get in. The surest way of obtaining a good starter is 
to use a pure culture of lactic ferment. 

112. Lactic Ferment Starter. 

Lactic ferment is a culture placed on the. market by several 
manufacturers in tliis country. It is sold in large and small 
bottles. The small bottles cost less and are just as good as the 
large ones, for we can grow the culture ourselves if we once get 
a start. One or two quarts of milk should be selected as above 
and heated to 200° F. for fifteen minutes and then cooled to 
70° F. The contents of the lottle should be added to this pas- 
teurized milk. In twenty-four hours, if kept warm, the milk 
will be sour and just at the curdling point. 

Another lot of milk, in quantity as much as required for a 
2 per cent starter in our vat, should be selected as before and 



Cheddar Cheese. 53 

heated to 200° F. for fifteen minutes, and then cooled to 70° F. 
and the first culture (startaline) added. In twenty-four hours 
it will be ready to use. A little is saved each day to make new 
starter. The starter should always be handled in sterile vessels. 
If care is taken not to contaminate the starter, it can be propa- 
gated in a very pure state through a whole season. Carelessness 
in handling the starter will infect it with other germs, which 
will spoil it, in which case it will be necessary to begin over 
again. 

113. What Not to Use for a Starter. 

A starter should not be saved from the whole vat of milk, 
nor from the whey, for the starter will then be likely to contain 
all sorts of germs, good, bad and indifferent, and these will all 
be transmitted from one day's milk to the next; in fact, a bad 
disease might be carried through the milk in this way for a 
whole season. Thick milk may be used for a starter, if one is 
hard pressed, tut it is better not to let the starter get quite 
thick. If the starter is thick, it should be strained carefully 
through a cloth strainer, for if clots of thick starter get into the 
vat of milk, they will not be colored and may leave white specks 
in the curd. 

By adding about half water to the starter milk in the even- 
ing it will not curdle so but that it will mix nicely in the vat. 

Milk should be ripened to a point where in two hours from 
the time the rennet is added to the milk, there will be one-eighth 
of an inch of acid on the curd (135). This corresponds to .2 per 
cent of acid. 

114. Milk Must Not be Too Ripe. 

Milk should never be allowed to ripen to a point where it 
will work too fast. In such cases there will be too great a loss 
of fat in the whey, and a small yield of cheese. 

115. Adding the Color. 

Until lately cheese color has been made from the annatto 
seed grown in South America. Cheaper and stronger color is 
now being made from aniline, a coal-tar product. The public 
seems to be prejudiced against mineral coloring, but there is so 
little of it in the cheese that it is doubtful if it is injurious to 



54 



Cheese Making. 



health. Of late years more and more consumers appear to pre- 
fer uncolored cheese. 

Different markets require different shades of color. It seems 
to be a general rule that the further south we go the higher color 
is required. Chicago calls for a straw color. St. Louis wants 
a deep yellow color, and New Orleans almost an orange color. 
(217.) 




Fig-. 24. — Branch of Annatto tree, showing seeds from which cheese coloi- 
is made. 



The color should be added before the rennet. It should be 
diluted with water and stirred in thoroughly. In the cheese it 
should not be of a reddish hue. 

ii6. Setting the Milk. 

Having gotten our milk into the proper condition we are 
now ready to set it. It should be set at 86° F. It sometimes 
happens that the milk has accidentally been warmed up to 90°. 
It is better to set the milk at that temperature than to wait and 
cool it down, for the milk will be ripening while we delay set- 
ting it. The only objection to setting milk at 90° is that the 



Cheddar Cheese. 55 

curd hardens too fast to cut it conveniently. If it were not for 
that fact there would be no objection to setting it at 98°. 

There is nothing to be gained by setting milk at 82° and 
waiting for it to curdle. If milk is over-ripe time can be gained 
by setting it at as high a temperature as it can be readily 
handled. 

For a fast-curing cheese we should use enough rennet to 
curdle the milk in fifteen to twenty minutes ; and for a slow-cur- 
ing cheese enough to curdle it in thirty to forty minutes. 

117. Rennet Should be Diluted. 

The rennet should be diluted, not with milk (why?) but 
with a dipperful or pailful of water, and then poured into the 
vat evenly from one end to the other. The water should be 
about 90° F. If above 100° F. the rennet will be weakened 
(74). The milk should be thoroughly stirred just previous to 
adding the rennet, and the rennet thoroughly mixed with the 
milk. The stirring should be done gently so that the fat will 
not separate from the milk. 

The milk should be kept in motion for several minutes ; the 
surface should then be stirred gently with the bottom of the 
dipper so that the cream will not rise on the surface, and the 
milk will set, or coagulate, and hold it down. The movement of 
the dipper should be kept up for about half the time it takes 
the milk to coagulate, and then a cover should be put over the 
vat to keep the surface of the milk from cooling off. 

118. The Use of Pepsin. 

In substituting pepsin for rennet, only scale pepsin of a 
strength of 1-3000 should be used. Use a weighed quantity of 
pepsin at the rate of .5 gram for every hundred pounds of milk 
in the vat, or for a slow-curing cheese at the rate of .4 gram. 
Dissolve it in cold water before adding to the milk. Pepsin can 
be obtained in pound or smaller bottles from dairy supply 
houses. A pound is enough for 100,000 pounds of milk. 

119. When the Curd is Ready to Cut. 

The curd is ready to cut when it will break clean before the 
finger. The index finger is thrust into the curd and pushed 
along through it about half an inch below the surface. The 
curd is first split by the thumb, and when the proper firmness 



56 Cheese Making. 

is reached it will break as the finger is pushed along. If the 
break is clean, that is, leaves clear and not milky whey in the 
break, the curd is ready to be cut, 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI. 

1. State the history of Cheddar cheese. 2. Where and by 
whom was the first cheese factory operated? 3. When and by 
whom were the first factories in Ohio built? 4. When and by 
whom were the first factories in Wisconsin built ? 5. What are 
the two processes of manufacture? 6. What is the Cheddar 
system? 7. How much acid is allowable in milk for Cheddar 
cheese. 8. Describe Farrington's rapid acid test. 9. To what 
point by the rennet test should milk be ripened? 10. How can 
a maker determine at what point to set his milk ? 11. What is a 
starter? 12. How should milk for a starter be selected? 13. 
What is a lactic-ferment starter, and how is it prepared? 14. 
Why should not whey or milk from the vat be used for a starter ? 
15. From what is cheese color made ? 16. Describe the different 
shades of color required by different markets. 17. At what 
temperature should milk be set, and why? 18. Why should 
over-ripe milk be set at a high temperature? 19. Why should 
rennet be diluted before adding it to the milk? 20. What kind 
of pepsin is used in cheese making? 21. How does pepsin 
compare in strength with rennet extract of standard makes ? 22. 
When is the curd ready to cut? 



CHAPTEE VII. 
CUTTING AND HEATING THE CURD. 



120. Firming the Curd. 

Through the action of heat and rennet the curd contracts 
and expels the whey. In order that this may be more readily 
done, "sve ent the curd into small cubes and raise the tempera- 
ture. The pieces of curd must be of the same size and shape, so 
that they may expel the whey evenly. 

The term "cock" in use for the change brought about in 
the condition of a curd is not strictly correct, as the curd is not 
heated hot enough to induce the change ordinarily known as 
cooking. The term has. however, come into general use by 
cheese makers in the sense of firming the curd by heat, and is so 
used in this book. 

121. How to Cut a Fast Working Curd. 

"When we have a fast working or over-ripe curd it should be 
cut finer and heated faster than a normal working curd. 

The English cheese-makers formerly broke the curd, first 
with their hands, and then with wires, but the curd-knife has 
entirely superseded this method. There are two forms of knives 
used for cutting the curd. 

122. Use of Horizontal Curd-Knife. 

The first is the horizontal knife, which has eighteen or 
twenty blades. ^When it is drawn through the length of the 
vat, it will cut the curd into layers or blankets one-half inch 
thick, by six inches wide, by the length of the whole vat. Care 
must be taken not to .jam the ciu'd. for if it is jammed it will 
be lost in the whey. The flat sides of the blades should not be 
forced into the curd to get the knife into a position to cut it, 
for they will jam the curd in so doing. 

57 



58 



Cheese Making. 



123. How to Insert the Horizontal Knife. 

The knife is therefore held in a horizontal position, the 
upper end near the handle resting on the top of the end of the 
vat. The knife is then lowered into the curd, the edges of the 
blades cutting into the curd and taking a circular course till 
the knife has assumed a vertical position parallel with the end 





Fig. 25. — Curd knives. 

of the vat, the lower end of the knife resting on the bottom of 
the vat. In this movement we have not jammed the curd, but 
have the knife in a position to move it through the length of the 
vat and cut the curd into layers. These layers are only six 
inches wide and we will have to cut the whole vat of curd into 
layers. Then keeping the knife in the curd we must turn it 
without breaking the curd, so that we can run the knife to the 
other end of the vat. Using the side of the knife next to the 
uncut curd as a center, we turn the knife around through 180° 
of a circle, and we are then ready to draw the knife to the other 
end of the vat. 

124. How to Take the Knife Out. 

"When we have cut the vat of curd all up into blankets, the 
knife is taken out in the reverse order to which it went in. 



Cutting and Heating the Curd. 59 

The horizontal knife is now laid aside and the operation 
finished with the perpendicular knife. The blades in this knife 
run in the direction of the longest dimension of the knife. 

The cheese-maker should not wait for the whey to rise over 
the curd before finishing the curd cutting, for the pieces of curd 
will get out of place, and the curd being harder will not be so 
easily cut. 
125. How to Insert the Perpendicular Knife. 

One should next start cutting in the same place as with the 
other knife, inserting it in the curd in the same way, for it has 
cross braces which are really horizontal blades, and one must 
avoid jamming the curd with them. Next draw the knife over 
the same course that the other knife went, and we have the curd 
cut into strips one-half inch square and the length of the vat 
long. 

Next cut crosswise of the vat, being careful not to jam the 
curd, and we then have it cut into half-inch cubes. 

If we are making up slow working milk, this amount of cut- 
ting may be enough, but if it is necessary to cut finer, it can be 
done by cutting alternately lengthwise and crosswise. The 
strokes should now be much quicker, as the curd has been get- 
ting harder and finer during the cutting process and will pass 
between the blades, and it is therefore necessary to use a quick 
stroke to cut it. 

126. Rapidity of Stroke a Factor. 

When a cheese maker says he cuts a curd a certain number 
of times, he does not convey the proper idea, for the rapidity of 
his strokes is a great factor, and if he cuts lengthwise of the 
vat six times and crosswise six times, and cuts with a slow mo- 
tion, the curd may not be cut any finer than if it had been cut 
only four times each way with a quick stroke. 

heating the cukd. 

127. Keep Curd Moving. 

As has been said, the curd is cut to allow the whey to es- 
cape, but if the curd is not kept moving, it will settle to the 
bottom of the vat and mat together again. Therefore, as soon 
as the curd has been cut, begin stirring it by hand or with 
a wire basket made for the purpose. 



60 Cheese Making. 

Do not allow the curd to collect in the corners of the vat, 
and be sure and rub it off from the sides of the vat or it will 
scald on. The whey should look clear, and be as free as possible 
from specks of curd floating in it. 

128. Heating the Curd. 

Curd being a poor conductor of heat, a rise of one degree 
in five minutes is fast enough to heat normal working milk. If 
it is heated too fast, it will cook the particles on the outside and 
retain the whey inside of the curd; the result will be a mottled 
whey-soaked cheese. (184.) 

129. Cooking an Over-Ripe Curd. 

If the milk is over-ripe, however, it expels the whey faster, 
and the curd must be heated faster and higher than in the case 
of a normal working curd, or there will be the required amount 
of acid on the curd before it is hard enough to remove it from 
the whey. As a usual thing it is not necessary to cook ai curd 
above ninety-eight degrees, but a curd must be cooked before 
drawing the whey, no matter if the temperature has to be raised 
to one hundred and ten degres to do it. (For definition of 
cooked curd, see paragraph 133.) It is necessary to cook a fast 
working curd in that way, and if the curd is taking acid too 
rapidly for the heating in the whey to' be sufficient to firm the 
curd before the acid is too great, the whey can be drawn and the 
remainder of the firming done in warm water, which is run into 
the vat in place of the whey. (See, however, paragraph 143 re- 
garding this.) 

130. Stirring the Curd. 

To assist the curd in heating evenly and keep it from mat- 
ting together, it should be stirred from the time it is cut till it 
is cooked. Some Canadian factories have a steam stirring ap- 
paratus which is very handy, but in most factories stirring is 
done with a rake. 

131. Curd Rakes. 

There are two kinds of curd rakes in use, the common 
wooden hay rake and the McPherson curd rake. 

The rake is put into the whey as soon as the steam is turned 
on, and the curd is started into a rolling motion as though it 



Cutting and HEiATiNG the Curd. 



61 



were boiling. The stirring is commenced with the rake, teeth 
Tip, at one end of the vat, and the rake is worked down the 
length of the vat, making the curd roll on the side of the vat 
opposite the operator; then back again, making it roll on the 
side toward him. Care should be taken that curd does not col- 
lect in the corners of the vat; nor should it be allowed to roll 
up into little balls. On the other hand, it must not be jammed, 
or fat will be lost in the whey at the expense of the yield of 
cheese. 




Mc.Vherson Carol Hake 



Figs. 26-27. — ^Wire curd stirrer and McPhers'on's curd rake. 

132. The McPherson Curd Rake. 

The McPherson curd rake has large triangular teeth with 
the base of the triangle forming the end of the tooth. This form 
of rake makes it much easier to give the curd a rolling motion. 
Some rakes have only two large teeth, and others several, but 
smaller ones. It is well to have two short wooden pins about 
a half to three-quarters of an inch long, in the back of the rake, 
to prevent its jamming the curd at the bottom of the vat. 



62 Cheese Making. 

133. How to Tell a Proper Cook. 

One of the most important steps in the process is to know 
when a curd is cooked enough. There should be one-eighth of 
an inch of acid on the curd, when the whey is drawn. Here it 
will be seen that one's judgment comes into play to know how 
fast to heat a curd in order to have it just firm enough when the 
acid comes. The rennet test will help us to regulate this, but if 
the rennet test indicates that we have a fast working milk it will 
be necessary to cook faster, and perhaps higher. "When the whey 
is drawn the curd must not be salvy and soft, but when a big 
double handful is pressed together in the hands, and one hand 
removed, it should not remain in a mashed-up mass, but should 
fall apart readily. The particles of curd should be examined 
from time to time, to see that they are cooking on the inside as 
well as the outside. 

An overcooked curd will give a "corky" cheese, while on 
the other hand, an undercook will give a salvy, weak-bodied 
cheese that is in danger of souring. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VII. 

1. What is meant by firming or cooking a curd? 2. How 
should a fast working curd be cut? 3. Describe the use of the 
horizontal and perpendicular knives. 4. What effect has the 
rapidity of stroke on the fineness to which a curd can be cut? 
5, Why do we cut a curd? 6. Why do we heat a curd? 7. How 
soon after cutting should a maker begin heating a curd ? 8. How 
should an over-ripe curd be heated ? 9. Why do we stir a curd ? 
10. Describe the McPherson curd rake. 11. How can one tell 
when a curd is properly cooked? 12. What is the effect in the 
cheese of an overcook? 13. What is the effect in the cheese of 
an undercook? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DRAWING THE WHEY— DIPPING AND MILLING 
THE CURD. 



134. Measuring Acid. 

When there is an eighth of an inch of acid on the curd, 
the whey should be drawn off. The acidity of the whey will 
then be .20 per cent. (136.) 

Strictly speaking, acid cannot be measured by the inch, but 
the acid seems to act on the curd in some way, so that when a 
piece is touched to a hot iron and drawn away, it will leave fine, 
silky threads behind, sticking to the iron. With normal working 
milk, when the curd is first cooked, it will not string at all ; but 
when the acid has reached a certain strength, the curd will begin 
to string, at first barely sticking to the iron, and as the acid in- 
creases, the string's will get longer, till they may be several 
inches in length, 

135. Threads Due to Acid. 

That the threads are in no way due to the rennet, but are 
dependent on the acid, is shown when milk sours naturally. 
Such a sour milk curd will usually string on a hot iron. If acid 
is introduced into the milk in sufficient quantity to curdle it, the 
curd will be likely to string; in fact, strings of any desired 
length can be produced by adding the right quantity of acid to 
the milk. However, if too much acid is added, it will make a 
soft, mushy curd, which will not string. 

The acid softens the curd so that it readily sticks to the hot 
iron. About two-tenths of 1 per cent of acid in the whey must 
be present to make it string an eighth of an inch. As the acid 
increases, the strings get longer. Any solvent of the casein will 
produce this result on the hot iron. Borax, which is alkaline in 
reaction, will bring about this result. 

63 



64 



Cheese Making. 



136. Use of Acidimeter. 

At the present time the hot-iron test has been largely super- 
seded by the acidimeter or the alkaline-1 ablet test. The use of 
the former test was first advocated by Prof. Dean -^f the Guelph 
Dairy School. This is the Manns' acid test.* (See Fig. 28.) 







Fig. 28.— The Manns' 
acidimeter or acid test. 



Fig. 29. — The Marschall acid test. 



The apparatus consists of a 50 c. c. burette, a solution of phe- 
nolphtalein, a Babcock pipette, and a tenth-normal alkali solu- 
tion. Wlien a pipette of milk or whey is used 1 c. c. of the alkali 
used is equal to .05 per cent of lactic acid. The Farrington 
tablet solution* may be substituted for the alkali solution. Use 
19.5 c. c. of water for each tablet. Each c. c. of the solution 
used will be equal to .01 per cent of lactic acid. 



*Loc. Cxt., p. 122. 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 65 

The Marschall acid test (see fig. 29) is a convenient appar- 
atus for determining the acidity of milk, whey, etc. It may be 
used either with a tenth-normal alkali solution, or with the Far- 
rington tablet solution prepared as stated. 

In using the acidimeter in cheese making, the milk is set at 
an acidity of .2 per cent. When cut the whey will have a lower 
acidity, about .17 per cent. When the acidity in the whey 
reaches .2 per cent, the whey is drawn. The drawings from the 
curd will show a rapid increase in acid. This test calls for care- 
ful work in titrations, and is preferably used in connection with 
the rennet and the hot iron tests. 

137. Result of Too Much Acid. 

When too much acid is developed in the whey, there is a 
great loss of fat, as well as of casein. Experience has taught 
us, that as a usual thing we cannot let the curd take more than 
one-eighth of an inch of acid in the whey without disastrous 
results. If we were to wait but a short time after there are 
strings an eighth of an inch long, we would find perhaps, that 
they had increased to an inch in length, and our curd would be 
ruined. It is therefore necessary that one should work nimbly 
at this stage of the process. Not only should the whey be drawn 
off from the curd, but the curd must also be thoroughly drained, 
for whey in the curd will have the same effect as though 
the curd were still in the whey. Of course the curd 
must contain its natural amount of moisture, but there must be 
no pools of free whey in or on the curd. 

Dr. Van Slyke has shown that lactic acid acting upon the 
curd forms a substance which he calls mono-lactic-acid-para- 
casein. This is dissolved out of the curd by strong brine. It is 
this substance which makes the curd cement and string. When 
a double amount of acid unites with the curd it forms di-lactic- 
acid-paracasein which gives it the characteristics of high acid or 
sour cheese. The formation of mono-lactic-acid-paracasein af- 
fects the subsequent changes in the curing of the cheese. 

In the old system of granular cheese making, the curd was 
stirred in the bottom of the vat, and then a ditch made in the 
middle for it to drain. In this stirring, considerable fat was 
lost, and the curds were not uniform in moisture. The reason of 



66 



Cheese Making. 



this was, that it is impossible to stir the curd to the same degree 
of dryness from day to day, and some day the curds would be 
drier than another. 

138. Curd Rack. 

In the Cheddar system, which we follow, the curd is drained 
on racks, which are placed either in the bottom of the vat or 
in a curd sink. The racks are made of hard wood, preferably 
maple. They are constructed of strips rounded on the top, 
three-fourths of an inch thick, two inches wide, screwed onto 




Fig. 30.— Curd Rack. 

two other pieces, two inches high, three-fourths of an inch thick, 
and four feet long. The slats are three-eighths of an inch apart, 
extend crosswise of the vat, and are long enough, so that not 
more than a quarter of an inch of space is left between each end 
and the sides of the vat. The racks are usually in two four- foot 
sections. 

139. Racks— How Used. 

When the whey is drawn down, so that there is tut very 
little whey left in the vat to interfere with operations, the vat 
is tipped so that one end is five or six inches lower than the 
other, and the curd is shoved down to the lower end till about 
five feet of the upper end is cleared. The first section of the 
rack is then put in, and a linen strainer cloth thrown over it. 
This strainer cloth should be about twelve feet long, and wide 
enough (60 inches) to come up over the sides of the vat. The 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 67 

surplus cloth is then' tucked under the lower end of the rack, 
and the curd piled onto it and broken apart to allow the whey 
to escape. 

It should be stirred over several times, and then left to mat 
evenly about six inches deep. The space, formerly occupied by 
the curd that has been put onto the racks, is now clear, and 
the second section of the rack can be placed in the vat. This 
is put in close to the first section, and the cloth that had 
been tucked out of the way, is drawn over it and covered with 
curd, care being taken to stir out the whey, as on the first sec- 
tion. The sides and ends of the strainer cloth are then wrapped 
over the curd, and the vat covered with a heavy cloth cover to 
keep the curd warm. The temperature must be maintained, to 
keep fermentation going on. 





Fig. 31. — The Herrick Curd Knife. 

140. Cutting the Curd into Blocks. 

After ten or fifteen minutes, the curd will have matted to- 
gether, and can be cut into large blocks, which are turned over. 

The best apparatus for cutting the curd that the author 
has seen is an instrument invented by Mr. B. B. Herrick, assist- 
ant in cheese making in the Ohio Dairy School. It is a trun- 
cated piece of heavy tin or galvanized iron, ten inches wide by 
sixteen inches long. It is folded at the ends and has a bead 
turned on the back to stiffen it. By taking this in both hands it 
can be pressed down into the curd cutting it quickly without 
damage to the strainer cloth. 

The curd can be cut once or twice down, the length of the 
vat, and across the vat into pieces eight inches wide. 



68 Cheese Making. 

141. Turning the Curd. * 

Beg-in at the lower end to turn the curd, for it will be more 
convenient to place the hands under the curd on the side toward 
the upper end of the vat, and roll it over than on the other side. 
In so doing, it is not necesary to lift the piece, thereby breaking 
it. Continue turning the other pieces in the same manner, till 
the last piece at the upper end of the vat is reached, then, by a 
pull of the cloth, it is turned over. Cover it up and let it stand 
to mat still closer. By using racks, the whey runs through when 
the curd is turned over. "Watch the curd, and if whey should 
collect between the pieces, turn them over and let it run off. 
The curd should be turned from time to time, and much oftener 
at first than later on, to facilitate the expulsion of the whey. 
After a while the curd will begin to get a grain to it, and wih 
tear like the meat on a chicken 's breast. 

142. Pin-Holey Curds. 

If we have what is called a ' ' gassy " or " pin-holey" curd, the 
gas will begin to form in little holes about the size of a pin head. 
Through the flattening of the curd, these holes are flattened and 
the gas escapes. Sometimes these pin holes appear before the 
curd is taken out of the whey, and, if they are plentiful enough, 
the curd will float on the surface of the whey, and we have 
what is called a "floater." But this does not occur very often, 
if we draw the whey in time. It used to occur quite often with 
bad milk, when the curd was left in the granular form, and 
more acid was run in the whey. The pin holes were not flat- 
tened, and consequently appeared in the cheese. Such curds 
are often accompanied by a bad flavor. They are probably 
caused from bad ferments, but may be due to bad-flavored food. 
Clover and watercress, when eaten by the cows, have been known 
to produce a curd with pin holes. 

Some of the taints are much more persistent than others. 
As a usual thing, a taint cannot be gotten entirely out of the 
cheese. 

143. Washing Curds. 

A poor curd can be greatly improved by washing it. When 
put onto the racks, and before it has had time to mat, a few 
pails of water at a temperature of 105° F. wi'l wash out a great 
deal of the taint. 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 69 

It is not, as a general rule, a good practice to wash curds. 
A light washing will improve a tainted curd, but the lactic acid 
is washed out with other substances and without lactic acid a 
fine Cheddar flavor cannot be obtained. This has been shown by 
extensive experiments. Sweet-curd cheese made from sweet 
milk never develops the characteristic Cheddar flavor. Unless 
two-tenths of a per cent of lactic acid in the whey is developed, 
this flavor will be lacking in the cheese. Curds that have an 
excessive amount of acid in the whey may appear to be improved 
in quality by washing during the first month of curing, but af- 
ter that time, when it is usually beyond the maker's observation 
and in the wholesale dealer's hands, it will develop a ragged 
texture and a bad flavor, like a sweet-cured cheese which has 
been exposed to a high temperature.* 

It has been shown at the "Wisconsin Experiment Station 
that the lactic acid and the milk sugar hold the gas germs in 
check. If it is necessary to wash the curd very much, cane 
. sugar applied at the rate of two and a half pounds to the hun- 
dred pounds of curd will keep the undesirable fermentations in 
check. 

144. Use of a Curd Sink. 

It is much easier to get the curd onto the racks and expel 
the whey, by using a curd sink. Nor is as much fat lost in the 
operation, for where the curd mats together in the vat before it 
can be gotten onto the racks, it is necessary to break it apart to 
let the whey out, and the necessary bruising causes a heavy loss 
of fat. 

145. Proper Form of Curd Sink. 

The common form of curd sink, with an opening along the 
whole length of the bottom, is to be avoided. The sink should 
be a tin-lined box with a channel bottom. There should be 
racks in it, and the channel under the racksi will leave a place 
for hot water, to keep the curd warm. There should be a faucet 
at the lower end that can be opened to let the whey drain off, 
and then closed to keep the water under the curd. If the racks 
are not used, the curd will not drain sufiiciei;itly ; and if there is 

*Under a recent ruling by the Federal Board of Food and Drug. Inspec- 
tion (Oct. 15, 1908), cheese made from curd soaked in water caiinot he sold 
as Cheese, but must be labeled "Soaked Curd Cheese," if sold in inter-state 
commerce, in the District of Columbia or the Territories. 



70 Cheese Making. 

an opening along the bottom, there will be a current of air 
started up around the curd which will thus be cooled. Of course, 
this is just what must be avoided, because the fermentation will 
be checked, if the curd cools down. 




Fig-. 32.— Curd Sink. 

146. How to Fill the Curd Sink. 

When the curd sink is used, the whey should be drawn 
down in the vat till it just barely covers the curd; for while it 
is covered with whey, it will not mat. The curd sink is then 
placed in the lower end of the vat, and the curd dipped over 
onto the racks in the curd sink. All the whey runs through, and 
the curd is left to dry to mat properly. If the curd is tainted, 
it can be more thoroughly washed, as the curd is not matted to- 
gether, and the water will wash all around the particles. As 
the curd is filled into the sink, this can be moved along, and the 
curd filled' into it evenly. 

After the curd has been turned several times, the maker 
can begin piling up. He can pile it two, three, five or six 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 71 

layers deep, but the pieces should be kept together, so that the 
curd will not spread too much at first. 

147. Keep the Curd Warm. 

The pieces that have been on the outside of the pile should 
be placed on the inside, so that the temperature may be kept 
even. We must not forget the fact, that cheese-making is a 
process of fermentation, and that heat is a great factor in it. 





Fig-s. 33-34.— Curd Pail and Scoop. 

148. Piling Curds. 

Piling the curd has a tendency to make a fast-curing, soft 
or "weak-bodied" cheese. If a fast-curing, soft cheese is de- 
sired, then the curd should be piled, but if a slow-curing, firm- 
bodied cheese is desired, we should pile the curd very little or 
not at all. In many of the best Canadian factories, the curd is 
not piled, but is turned over and over. A curd from over-ripe 
milk, should not be piled very much, as such a curd is likely 
to produce a "salvy" cheese. 

milling the curd. 



149. When a Curd is Ready to Mill. 

In the course of an hour and a half from the time the curd 
has been dipped onto the racks, it will have matted down, and 
assumed a meaty texture. It will not tear out in chunks, but in 
strips like the meat on a chicken's breast. There will also prob- 
ably be half an inch or more, likely an inch, of fine strings, when 
tried on a hot iron. It is then ready to grind or niill, that is, 
it is put into a curd mill and cut into small pieces. The acid 
should be developing well at this stage of the process, but the 



72 



Cheese Making. 



amount of acid is not as important as it is that the curd shall be 
meaty in texture. 

150. Description of Curd Mills. 

The first curd mills were used in England. They consisted 
of a hopper, in the bottom of which was a roller with iron pegs 
in it. Sometimes there were two rollers. On the side of the 
hopper were iron pegs, and when the curd was thrown into it, 
the pegs in the roller would catch it, and carry it against the 
pegs, and tear and squeeze it to pieces. 

The old Roe mill is made on this principle. The old Elgin 
mill was also on the same plan, only there was less room for the 
curd to get between the pegs, and the curd was badly smashed 
and jammed. It caused a great loss of fat, and such a mill 
ought never to have been used. 




Fig-. 35.— The Pohl Curd Mill. 

151. The Pohl Mill. 

The next form of peg mill is the Pohl mill, which has sharp 
teeth on two cylinders, revolving at different velocities, which 
pick the curd to pieces. The objection to this mill is, that it 
does not leave the curd in pieces cf the same size. Some of the 
pieces will be quite large, while ethers will be small, and when 
salted the salt will not be evenly distributed. There is a self- 
salting attachment to the mi.l, but this is useless, as a curd is 
never ready to salt when milled. 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 73 

152. The Whitlow Mill. 

A knife-mill does not jam the curd as mueh as a peg mill 
does. It simply cuts it. One of the earliest forms of knife- 
mills was built after the form of peg-mills, as is seen in the 
"Whitlow mill of Canada. There are a number of knives on a 
shaft which play between knives in the side of the hopper. 
When the curd is put into the hopper, it is caught between the 
-knives and cut into small pieces. The B. & W. mill is practi- 
cally the same mill. 

153. The McPherson Mill. 

The McPherson mill, invented in Eastern Ontario, consists 
of a wheel with knives in it similar to the blade of a plane. A 
hopper feeds the curd down against the wheel, and as it turns. 




Fig-. 36. — The Harris Curd Mill. 



74 



Cheese Makizsh,. 



slices (jf curd are shaved off. The wheel is^ apt to make the 
curd fly. 

154. The Gosselin Mill. 

The Gosselin mill is similar to the McPherson, the blade 
being- placed in a cylinder. The curd placed in a hopper rubs 
against the blades and drops into the cylinder, which being open 
at the ends, allows the curd to fall out. 

155. The Harris Mill. 

The Harris mill has a network of knives at the bottom of a 
hopper. A plunger works by a lever into this hopper, and when 
a lump of curd is dropped into this, the plunger forces it 
through the knives, leaving the curd in pieces one-half inch 
square, and as long as the piece of curd dropped into the hopper. 

156. The Fuller Mill. 

The Fuller mill has two knives with a smaller number of 
blades than the Harris, placed one on either side of the hopper 
and the curd is pressed through the knives by a plunger that 
works back and forth across the bottom of the hopper. 

157. The Barnard Mill. 

The Barnard is similar to the Fuller mill. 




Fig. 37. — The Baraard Hand-Power Curd Mill. 

158. The Kasper Mill. 

The Kasper mill is like the Pohl except that the pegs on the 
rollers are replaced by a cylinder of knives. The curd is pressed 
through the knives by means of a wooden roller. The cylinder 
is in three sections which open automatically and let the curd 
fall out. (Fig. 38.) 



Drawing the Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 75 

159. Advantages and Objections to Knife Mills. 

The advantage of a knife-mill, besides saving the fat in the 
curd, is that the curd will not mat together on the racks, but 
can easily be torn to pieces by hand. An objection offered to 
such mills is, that the curd will not press together well. This 
may perhaps be difficult at times, but the trouble in closing the 




Fig. 38. — Kasiper Rotary Curd Mill. 

cheese lies somewhere else. It must be remembered that knife- 
mills are used, hardly without exception, in factories where the 
best Canadian cheese is made, and this cheese is shipped to 
England, where the bandages are often stripped off from them, 
and they must necessarily be closed. 

If the trouble in closing the cheese be carefully investigated 
it will be found to be due to the bandage used, or the tempera- 
ture of the curd. Some makers let the curd mat together again, 
and grind a second or third time, but so much hacking of the 
curd is not desirable. The curd should be piled up to flatten the 
pinholes, and then stirred every fifteen minutes to give it air. 

160. Stirring the Curd. 

A five-tined fork, with the points turned into little loops to 
prevent catching into the cloth, or sticking into the sink, is a 
very handy tool with which to stir the curd. It does the work 
thoroughly, and with much less labor than with the hands alone. 



76 



Cheese Making. 



i6i. Time to Mill. 

The grinding- should come about half way between dipping 
the curd and salting it. There should therefore be an hour and 
a half from grinding ta salting. During all this time the tem- 
perature should be kept up. 




Fig. 39. — Students operating Curd Mill. 

The curd should take all the acid it will before salting, 
which is indicated by strings about two inches long on the hot 
iron. 

162. Effect of Dry Acid. 

If a fast-curing cheese is wanted, there is all the greater 
reason for giving it all the acid it will take. 

Do not be afraid of getting a sour cheese by giving it all the 
dry acid it will take. If one has gotten all the whey out of the 
curd, there is no danger of a sour cheese. It is acid in the whey 
that makes a sour cheese. 

A tallowy cheese may possibly result from a prolonged mat- 
ting, but this is seldom the case. If the curing room is not 
under control in hot weather the cheese is safer if well devel- 
oped on the racks. If the curing room temperature can be held 



Deawing the "Whey— Dipping and Milling the Curd. 77 

down to 65° F. it will not be necessary to develop so much acid 
on the racks. 

163. How to Expel Gas. 

If the pin holes are not all flattened out by the time the 
maker is ready to salt the curd, it can be put into the hoops and 
pressed up for fifteen minutes. Then take it out and pull to 
pieces by hand or with the fork. This, however, is not neces- 
sary except in very stubborn cases. The gas can usually Le 
expelled by thorough airing and piling. 

164. Steaming Curds. 

The vat or curd sinks should be covered with a heavy can- 
vas cover. A steam hose can be inserted under it in such a 
position that the hot steam will not strike the curd directly. A 
gentle stream of steam will keep the curd warm; the moisture 
seems to dispose of taints in the curd. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VIII. 

1. What is meant by an eighth of an inch of acid on a curd? 
2. Why do the threads string out on the hot iron? 3. How 
much acid must be present in the whey to cause strings one- 
eighth of an inch in length? 4. What is the effect of too much 
acid in the whey? 5. How are curd racks used in the vat? 6. 
Describe the Herrick curd knife. 7. Why and how should the 
curd on the racks be turned? 8. What are "pin-holey" curds 
and how should they be handled? 9. What can be said in favor 
of and against washing curds? 10. How may curds be treated 
to prevent bad fermentations due to too much washing? 11. 
What is the advantage of a curd sink? 12. How should a curd 
sink be constructed? 13. How should the curd sink be filled? 
14. Why should a curd be kept warm and how may it be piled 
to accomplish this? 15. What is the effect of high and of low 
piling? 16. When is a curd ready to mill? 17. Describe the 
old peg mills and what is the objection to them? 18. Describe 
a number of curd mills used in factories. 19. What are the 
advantages for and objection to knife mills ? 20. How should a 
five-tined steel fork be fixed to stir the curd? 21. What is the 
effect of dry acid on a curd ? 22. What causes a tallowy cheese ? 
23. How may gas be expelled from the curd? 24. What can 
be said about steaming curds ? 



CHAPTER IX. 
SALTING AND PRESSING THE CURD. 



165. Condition of a Curd for Salting. 

The curd is ready to salt when it smells like toasted cheese 
and not like burnt hair when rubbed on the hot-iron. It should 
not feel harsh, but soft and silky, and when squeezed in the 
hand, a mixture of half fat and half whey should run between 
the fingers. 

If clear whey runs out, the curd is not ready to salt. "White 
whey should not run from a curd before salting. In that case it 
has not been fully freed from whey, and there is a heavy loss of 
fat. When salted, a clear brine should run from the curd. 

Few cheese-makers realize how important a step in the pro- 
cess of cheese making the salting of the curd is, and they salt 
all their curds according to some fixed rule, learned from their 
predecessors, without knowing what the salt does. 

166. Salt and Its Impurities. 

Salt is known to chemists by the name of sodium chloride. 
There are associated with sodium chloride as impurities in salt, 
potassium chloride, calcium chloride, and sulphates^ of mag- 
nesia and lime. The presence of calcium and magnesium chlor- 
ides in salt makes it lumpy and damp, for these chlorides have a 
great attraction for water, and will absorb it from the air. Cal- 
cium chloride and magnesium chloride give the salt a bitter taste. 

These impurities, however, as well as the water contained 
in salt, are a very low percentage of the whole, and when a salt 
dealer talks about his salt being so much stronger or purer than 
any other high-grade salt, he has no regard for facts. Do not 
understand, that common barrel salt is just as good as the best 
salt for cheese making, for it is not. Common barrel salt con- 
tains a great deal of dirt, and salt may take up bad odors, which 
will be imparted to the cheese. 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 



79 



Fine salt that has probably been ground, will dissolve 
faster than a coarser salt in the natural crystalline form, the 
crystals being broken in the former case. 

Salt can easily be tested as to quality, by dissolving it in 
pure water in a glass cylinder. Use more salt than will dissolve. 
• The best salt is that which leaves a clear brine with no scum or 
dirt on the top, or bottom of the solutions. Cheese is an article 
of food and we do not want any dirt in it, so we should avoid 
dirty salt. If a few drops of a solution of ammonium oxalate is 
poured into the salt solution, any lime that may be in the salt 
will be thrown down in the form of a white precipitate of cal- 
eium oxalate. By this means we can form an idea of the 
amount of lime in the salt. It is doubtful if a little lime (cal- 
cium oxide) is harmful in the salt, but if the calcium is in the 
form of chloride, it will attract moisture and make the salt 
lump. Lumpy salt will not be evenly distributed in the cheese. 

AVERAGE COMPOSITION IN AMERICAN DAIRY SALT, IN PER CENT.* 



NAME OF BRAND. 



Anchor 

Ashton 

Canfield & Wheeler 
Diamond Crystal . . . 

Genesee 

Kansas 

LeEoy 

Vacuum Pan 

Warsaw 

Worcester 











s 








o ft 


oo 
■3.3 
DO 


G !-i 

037; 

S5 


01 

5I 


3 


97.79 


1.48 


.28 


.08 


.06 


3 


98.01 


1.42 


.20 


.16 


.03 


4 


98.18 


1.21 


.22 


.12 


.04 


5 


99.18 


.54 


.19 


.05 


.03 


8 


98.27 


1.11 


.24 


.07 


.04 


3 


97.87 


1.50 


.31 


.07 


.05 


2 


98.15 


1.31 


.39 


.08 


.01 


6 


98.00 


1.15 


.36 


.15 


.03 


3 


98.43 


.96 


.40 


.06 


.03 


5 


98.57 


.92 


.25 


.07 


.02 



.31 
.18 
.23 
.01 
.16 
.20 
.06 
.31 
.12 
.17 



167. What Salt Does to Cheese. 

In the first place, salt gives taste to a cheese. A cheese 
without salt has an insipid taste. Salt also takes out the 
moisture, so that fermentation is checked. A cheese' without salt 
will cure very fast, in fact fermentation goes on so rapidly that 
gas holes are formed. 

This is seen in brick and Swiss cheese, in which the fermen- 
tation starts in the unsalted state, but the salt, which is applied 

*See Woll, Bull. 74, Wisconsin Experiment Station. 



80 Cheese Making. 

to the outside, works its way into the cheese before it spoils. 
Such cheese must be cured in a cellar, where there is a constant 
low temperature, as it will otherwise spoil. 

i68. Effect of Too Much Salt. 

If a cheese is salted too heavily, it becomes dry and mealy, 
and cures very slowly. The flavor is also' injured. If we have 
bad milk, we should salt higher to improve the flavor, for up to 
a certain point, this is accomplished by heavier salting. AVe be- 
lieve this to be due to the fact, that as the fermentation is 
checked by more salt, the gases formed have a chance to diffuse, 
and escape from the cheese, Avithout filling it with holes and the 
odor of the gases. Salt may also check the action of the en- 
zymes in their work of digesting the casein. (92.) 

To make a fine-flavored cheese it is advisable to salt heavy, 
say three pounds of salt per one hundred of curd. It must be 
expected, however, that such a curd will cure slowly. The best 
kind of cheese cannot be made in a day, a week, or a month. A 
fast-curing cheese is made by using more rennet and less salt, 
but the product will not be as good a cheese as a slow-curing 
one. It will not be as close, nor as fine-flavored, for the gases 
will not have had time to escape from the cheese. If one is 
making a fine, slow-curing cheese, he need not expect to get as 
much cheese per hundred weight of milk, as if he were making 
fast-curing cheese, for the salt expels the moisture and leaves 
less weight. , 

In an experiment at the Wisconsin Dairy School, a curd 

was divided into three equal parts. The first lot received no 

salt; the second lot, one and a half pounds of salt per hundred 

pounds of curd; and the third lot three pounds per hundred. 

The curds were then pressed separately, and the green cheese 

weighed as follows : 

The cheese with no salt 10 R)S. 

The cheese with one and a half lbs. of salt. . . . 9.75ft)s. 
The cheese with three pounds of salt 9. 50 lbs.- 

As the cheese cured, they kept their relative weights. Other 

experiments have given similar results. 

169. Curds Not Always Salted the Same. 

Curds should not always be salted at the same rate from 
day to day. A moist curd needs more salt than a dry one, for 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 81 

two reasons : First, the excess of moisture must be expelled by 
the addition of salt; and second, as the expulsion of moisture 
takes salt with it in solution, enough must be applied to leave 
the proper amount in the cheese. 

170. Salt Should Be Evenly Distributed. 

It is also essential, that the salt should be evenly distributed 
through the cheese. If there is too much salt in the last curd 
put into the hoop, the rind of the cheese will crack. 

171. Adding Salt. 

The curd should be spread out evenly in the curd sink, and 
a part of the salt scattered evenly over it. The curd should then 
be stirred thoroughly, and again spread out, and the remainder 
of the salt applied. It ought to be stirred every ten minutes, to 
keep the salt from settling to the bottom of the pile in the brine. 

172. Temperature of Salting. 

Before salting, the curd should be cooled to 90° F., for if 
too warm, the fat may be expelled in large quantities with the 
brine. The curd should not be put to press till the salt has 
been thoroughly dissolved and worked into it. 

173. Condition of Salted Curd for Pressing. 

Before pressing the curd will have harsh feeling, due to the 
undissolved salt crystals, the outside of the pieces of curd are 
hardened, so that they will not press together readily ; but as the 
salt works into the curd, it will regain its velvety feeling. When 
this condition has been reached, which is usually in fifteen to 
twenty minutes, it is ready for the press. 

174. Removing Fat. 

As indicated in paragraph 172 the fat may run over the 
surface of the curd and prevent the cementing of the particles. 
This is especially true of a curd from tainted milk. By throw- 
ing two or three pails of warm water (110°) over the curd this 
fat will be washed off, and then a pail of cold water will harden 
the curd so that the fat will not run. A little fat is lost, how- 
ever, in this way. If the curing room is cool enough to permit 
of it, salting the curd a little earlier will prevent this loss. 



82 



Cheese Making, 



PRESSING THE CHEESE. 

175. Curd Must Not be Too Warm or Too Cold. 

Before pressing, the curd should be cooled to between 
eighty and eighty-five degrees. If put to press warmer, the fat 
runs, and large quantities of it are lost. It also runs between 
the pieces of curd so that they will not close together, and under 
the bandage, preventing it from sticking to the cheese. Poorly 
closed cheese has often been attributed to the curd mill, when 
the trouble really lay in the temperature at which the cheese 
was put to press. 




Fig. 40. — Students pressing' cheese. 

When the curd is much below 80°, it will not close together, 
but there is a happy medium which varies according to the tem- 
perature of the press room. If the room is cold, the curd will 
cool down. A cheese-maker must have some brains in his head, 
and use them, for he is more than a mere machine to be wound 
up and run down. A proper temperature for the press room is 
about 70° F. 

176. Common Packages of Cheese. 

There are four common packages, into which American 
cheese is pressed, namely, Young Americas, weighing nine or 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 



83 



ten pounds, Flats and Cheddars, weighing respectively thirty and 
sixty pounds, and Daisies weighing twenty pounds (Fig. 41). 

The common diameter of flats or Cheddar cheese is fourteen 
and a half inches, and a flat is half the height of a Cheddar. 




Fig. 41. — Different styles of American and foreign cheese made in the 
United States. 

177. Cheese Presses. 

There are two kinds of presses used, the gang and the up- 
right. The upright press has the screws in an upright position, 
and but one screw to a cheese. The gang press has one hori- 
zontal screw, which presses anywhere from one to twenty 
cheese. The hoops (Fraser) are made a little smaller at the 
bottom than at the top, so that each hoop will fit over the next 
one in front of it. 

It is sometimes claimed for upright presses that the pressure 
is kept up better, as there is but one cheese under a screw, but 
they are hard to keep clean and take up a great deal of room. 

The Sprague automatic adjustable gang press can be ad- 
justed to fit hoops of different diameters. This press as well as 
the Helmer is arranged so that a continuous pressure is kept on 
the cheese. A new factory should certainly be equipped with 
one of these presses.* 

*An automatic cheese press is described by J. W. Moore in the 24th re- 
port of the Wisconsin Experiment Station (1907), pp. 207-213. See also Far- 
mers' Bull. 329, p. 28. 



84 



Cheese Making, 



In the Fraser gang- hoop, the bandage is held by an iron 
band, which slips into the top of the hoop. This iron band is 
called the "bandager. " 

In pressing the cheese, the maker should aim to turn out 
a perfect cheese. He should be an artist, and produce an ob- 




Fig. 42. — The Spragne Adjustable Gang Press. 

ject of beauty. The ends should be square with its height, clean, 
and the bandage turned down evenly at the ends, and closed 
well on the sides. 

178. Kind of Bandage Used. 

There are two kinds of bandages used, starched and seam- 
less. The starched bandage is made by the cheese maker from 




Fig. 43. — The Helmer Patent Continuous -Pressure Press. 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 85 

starched cloth. The seamless bandage comes in the form of a 
long cloth tube, from which the required length for the cheese is 
cut. But the starched bandage will not let the whey out prop- 
erly, and consequently the cheese does not close on the sides. 
The cheese closes much better with the unstarched, seamless 
bandage. 

Eeady-made unstarched bandages of better quality than the 
seamless bandage and about the same cost are now in the 
market. 

179. How the Bandage is Put Onto the Cheese. 

When the bandage is put into the hoop, the edge should be 
turned in evenly, for about an inch and a half on the bottom, 
and perhaps dampened to hold its place. 

Before putting the bandage in, the bottom cap cloth should 
be put in. It should be round, and as large as the bottom of 
the hoop (fourteen and a half inches), and should be soaked in 
hot water. Square cap cloths lap over onto the sides of the 
cheese, and make bad looking scars. 

180. Cheese Must be of the Same Size. 

Care should be taken to put the same amount of curd into 
each hoop, so that all the cheese will be of the same height. 

The hoops should not be filled so full that the cheese comes 
above the junction between the bandage and the hoop, for in 
such .cases, there will be a little ridge left at the junction, 
which will disfigure the cheese. 

When the curd has been filled into the hoop, the top cap 
cloth is put on, and the fibrous ring laid around the edge, to 
keep the curd from pushing out, and then the follower put in. 
Usually the fibrous ring is tacked onto the follower, and while it 
may fit well, it quite often happens that it does not; and the 
curd will push out at the places where the ring does not come 
tight against the hoop. There is another point in having the 
fibrous ring separate from the follower, which will be noticed 
later on. (184.) 

i8i. Tighten the Press Slowly. 

After the hoops have been slipped into place, the screw 
should be tightened slowly, to let the whey out gradually. A 
small stream of brine should be kept flowing. If too great pres- 



86 



Cheese Making. 



sure is applied at first, the fat will be forced out. Curd closes 
together slowly, as will be seen by sciueezing it in the hand. If 
it be squeezed suddenly, and then the pressure released, it will 
fall apart, but if pressed up slowly in the hand, it will stick to- 
gether. The full pressure should not be reached for about fif- 
teen minutes. 




Fig-. 44.— Fraser Gang Hoops. A, hoop; B, bandager; C, follower; D^ 
flbrous ring. 

In about an hour, the curd will be pressed together, and 
then the bandage should be turned down around the top of the 
cheese. This operation is generally called "dressing" the cheese. 

182. Dressing the Cheese. 

Set the hoops in an upright position, and take out the fol- 
lowers, cap cloths, and bandagers. Pull the bandage gently, to 
be sure there are no wrinkles in it^ and then trim off evenly all 
around, so that it will lap over onto the end of the cheese about 
an inch and a half. Soak it down into position with warm 




Fig. 45. — "Wilstn Cheese Hoops. 

water, and put on the cap, after having wrung it out in warm 
water. Be sure there are no wrinkles in the cap, for they will 
leave bad looking marks on the rind of the cheese. 

Then put in the bandagers to keep the hoops straight in the- 
press, and the fibrous ring and folloAver, and close up the press,. 



Salting and Pressing the CUrd. 87 

putting on full pressure. Young Americas, however, will not 
stand as^ much pressure, for they do not have as much surface 
as larger cheese, to resist it. 

183. The Wilson Hoop. 

Another form of hoop used largely in Ohio is the "Wilson 
hoop. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE WILSON HOOPS. 

Each hoop consists of four pieces, as follows: 

B. The bottom cover, with the widest flange or rim. 
E. The open wide hoop. 

D. The closed or tight wide hoop. 

C. The top cover with narrow flange or rim. 

FiKST — Place the cover with the widest rim (B) on the ways in the 
bottom of the press. 

Second — Place the Cap Cloth on the bottom of the cover (BJ. Said 
Cap Cloth should be as large as the bottom of the cover. 

Third — Place within the bottom of cover (A) the open hoop or 
bandage (E). 

Fourth — Wet one edge of the bandage, adjust with the open hoop 
and turn the wet edge over the top of the hoop. 

Fifth — Put the closed wide hoop (D) on top of the open one, letting 
it lap over about one inch, and fasten the hooks which are provided to 
keep same from slipping down. 

Sixth — Put in the cheese curd as may be desired, for any thickness 
the cheese are to be made, but always put in enough so that the outer or 
tight hoop in slipping over the open one when pressing shall not quite be 
forced down to meet the edge of the lower cover. 

Seventh — Put on the top cover (C), then unfasten the hooks under the 
handles, then turn the cheese over, placing the top cover up snug against 
the head of the press. Proceed in the same manner with the balance of 
the hoops until are are filled, placing the top cover against the bottom of 
the previous one, etc. Then proceed to pressing. 

Eighth — After pressing as usual, or until the time when the 
bandage is to be turned in or lapped over the edge of the cheese in order 
to press the bandage down, it is well to remove the cheese from the hoop, 
and having turned it over, put it back in the hoop with the other face up, 
and put to press again. This will be found to remove any wrinkles that 
may have formed in the bandage. 

184. How to Get Cheese Dry. 

The idea that we make a cheese dry by pressing it is an 
erroneous one. The whey must be removed from the curd while 
it is in the vat ; if it is not, no amount of squeezing in the press 
will expel it, and the cheese will get sour. 



88 Cheese Making. 

If the press is not a continuous pressure one, the maker 
should tighten the press the last thing at night, and the first 
thing in the morning. 

In the morning, the cheese should be taken out of the hoops 
and examined, to see if they are perfect in shape, and all defects 
remedied. If the bandage does not stick, the cheese should be 
washed with warm water, and after being tightened in the press, 
hot water turned on to warm it up. If the edge of the upper 
end of the cheese is rough, it should be turned end for end in the 
hoop. In either case, the fibrous ring should be left out, so that 
the edge of the cheese will come out square on the hoop. The 
cheese must be watched, to see that it does not push out beyond 
the follower, and its last state be worse than the first ; but if 
the pressure is carefully applied, a nice square edge can be put 
onto a cheese in this way. 

185. Do Not Pound the Hoops. 

The cheese should slip out of the hoop with very little 
pounding. Pounding loosens the rivets, and gets the hoops into 
bad condition, as well as loosens the bandage on the cheese, and 
sometimes breaks the cheese. 

Wliere a knife is used to loosen the cheese, the bandage is 
also often loosened. If the cheese does not slip out easily, grease 
the hoops. The hoops should be kept clean, and when necessary 
to grease them, clean grease should be used. 

Cheese should never be taken out on the floor, but on a 
press board. We must remember that cheese is an article of 
human food. Most people like to have clean food to eat, and we 
should aim to be just as clean in making the cheese as though 
the consumers were watching all the time. 

Wipe the cheese off with a clean cloth, and then put them 
on the shelves, marking the date neatly. Cheese with great big 
marks scrawled over them do not look attractive. 

186. Greasing the Cheese. 

As soon as the rind has dried off, it should be greased with 
regular cheese grease. The practice of using the skimmed whey 
after it has fermented and become full of dirt is nothing less 
than a dirty trick. Good wholesome grease, prepared for the 
purpose, can be bought of regular dealers in dairy supplies, and 
nothing else should be used. 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 89 

187. Cracks in Cheese. 

If the cheese is left exposed to the air too long before being 
greased, it will crack. Another cause of the rind cracking is too 
miich acid in the whey. A high-acid cheese will, as a rule, 
crack. A draft of air blowing over the cheese will also cause it 
too crack. This, of course, is caused by the air absorbing moist- 
ure from the rind. The question of moisture in the curing of 
American cheese has been little considered in the past, but it 
will doubtless receive more attention in the future. 

188. Cheese in Cold Storage. 

Cheese held in cold storage are very likely to mold. Mold 
works into the cracks, and for this reason buyers do not want 
cracked cheese. The rinds of high-acid cheese, held in cold 
storage, will also begin to rot at the middle. 

Sometimes the maker leaves the caps, or press cloths, as 
they are sometimes called, on until a few days before shipping, 
and then pulls them off and greases the rinds. 

Sometimes salt sacks made out of heavy ducking are used 
for caps. This leaves a hard but very rough rind, and if the 
cheese is held in cold storage, and mold grows on it, it is almost 
impossible to get the mold off, and buyers are strongly opposed 
to using salt sacks for this purpose. 

189. Cleaning Moldy Cheese. 

Cheese that gets moldy in cold storage is put into a sink 
of hot water, to which a little ammonia has been added, and 
scrubbed with a brush. It is put on a shelf to drain and dry, 
and afterward boxed again. 

190. Cheese Cloth Circles and Press CFoths. 

Sometimes a thin "cap" of cheese cloth, called a "cheese 
cloth circle," is put on the end of the cheese. The cheese cloth 
circle does not go on under the bandage where it is turned down 
on the end, but oyer it. When circles are used, there is no need 
of greasing the cheese till they are shipped. The circle is then 
pulled off and the rind greased. 

The circles make the cheese much cleaner, and buyers gen- 
erally prefer them, and will pay more money for the cheese, 
usually an eighth of a cent a pound more. The cost is about 
one-sixteenth of a cent a pound on flats. Sometimes, by special 



90 Cheese Making. 

agreement, buyers want the circles left on the cheese. When 
the cheese come out of cold storage they are cleaned, the circles 
being stripped off, leaving a clean bright rind, which is greased. 

The circles should be but twelve or thirteen inches in dia- 
meter, as they sometimes do not stick under the edge where they 
lap over the bandage. 

The first one is put on inside the "heavy cap" or "press 
cloth," before the curd is put into the hoop, and the other one 
is put in when the cheese is "dressed." 




Fig. 46. — Revolving Letter and Figure Stencil. 

191. Print Cheese. 

An arrangement for molding cheese into print forms simi- 
lar to one-pound butter prints was designed at the Wisconsin 
Station in 1898-99.* The cheese is made by the usual Cheddar 
process, but the curd is placed in a rectangular mold, the bot- 
tom or "follower" of which is a carved board. This board 
makes an impression on each one-pound print of cheese, the 
groove showing where it is to be cut in order to make each print 
weigh about one pound. The dimensions of each block of 15 
prints (weighing a little over 15 lbs.), are ll%xl3^x2i/2 
inches, each print being 2%x23^x4i4 inches in size. 

In making this cheese, the curd is placed in a rectangular 
metal hoop similar to the Cheddar cheese hoops with fasteners, 
etc.; the bandage is made to cover the sides and bottom, and 
come together on the top of the flat cheese; the cloth is cut so 
as to make smooth, neat corners. The cheese are cured in the 
same way as Cheddar cheese, and when pressed with a carved 
board, a trademark may be branded into each pound of the 
cheese, and thus protect the reputation of cheese from a given 
source. 

♦Report 18, pp. 132-135; Report 20, pp. 190-191. 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 



91 



192. Keep a Daily Record. 

When the cheese is ready to ship, it quite often happens that 

a maker finds something peculiar about a cheese which he wishes. 

to avoid or reproduce in the future, but he does not remember 

the circumstances connected with the making of that particular 

, cheesp In the best factories a daily record is kept showing the 




Fig-. 47. — Print Cheddar Cheese, made at the University of Wisconsin 
Dairy School. 

conditions under which each cheese is made, and how the milk 
and curd act. This gives the maker a history of each cheese, and 
by its aid he is often able to remedy defects and reproduce de- 
sirable points. 

The following blank is suggested for the purpose : 



Date 

Vat used (Number of vat) , 

Condition of milk, 

Per cent of fat in milk. 

Pounds of milk in vat, 

Kennet (or acidity) test for ripeness, 

Temperature set, 



190, 



92 Cheese Making. 

Time set, 

Amount of rennet used, 

Rate of rennet per 1000 pounds of milk, 

Time cut, 

Minutes in curdling, 

Time steam was turned on, 

Time required in raising to degrees 

Hot-iron test (or acidity) when dipped. 
Time dipped, 

Time from cutting to dipping. 
Per cent of fat in whey. 
Time ground, 

Hot-iron test (or acidity) when ground. 
Time salted. 

Amount of salt on curd, 
Rate of salt per 1000 lbs. of milk, 
Time put to press. 
Kind and number of cheese made, 
Time dressed. 
Time pressed. 
Weight of green cheese. 

Average weight of milk per pound of cheese, 
Highest and lowest temperature of curing room for last twen- 
ty-four hours. 
Percentage humidity in curing-room. 

Remarks— 

Under this head any important matter not included under 
the other heads may be noted, such as gassy curd or washing out 
bad flavors, or any treatment different from the ' ordinary 
method of manufacture. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IX. 

1. "What are the conditions of a curd when ready to salt? 
2. What is salt ? 3. What are the impurities in salt, to what ex- 
tent do they occur, and what are the objections to them? 4. 
What does salt do to cheese? 5. Wliat is the effect of too much 
salt? 6. Does salt increase or diminish the weight of cheese, 
and why? 7. Should all curds be salted alike? 8. How should 



Salting and Pressing the Curd. 93 

salt be applied to a curd? 9. Wlien is a curd ready to press? 

10. What prevents cheese from closing, and what is the remedy ? 

11. At what temperature should curd be pressed, and why ? 12. 
What are the common packages of cheese ? 13. How do upright 
and gang presses compare? 14. How is the bandage held in 
the Fraser hoop ? 15. What are the different kinds of bandage 
in use? 16. How is the bandage put onto a cheese? 17. How 
should the cap cloths be cut? 18. How full should a hoop be 
filled? 19. How fast should the press be tightened? 20. What 
is meant by dressing the cheese? 21. Describe the Wilson hoop. 
23. How is moisture expelled from a cheese? 23. Why should 
not the hoops be pounded to get the cheese out? 24. Wliy and 
with what should cheese be greased? 25. How do high acid 
cheese behave in cold storage? 26. How can moldy cheese be 
cleaned? 27. What is a cheese cloth circle, and how are they 
put on with reference to the bandage? 28. What is a press 
cloth? 29. What is the advantaa'e of a dailv record? 



CHAPTER X. 
CURING AND SHIPPING THE CHEESE. 



193. Changes in Curing Cheese. 

When the cheese is coagulated by rennet, the coagulum 
is called paracasein. In curing, the cheese undergoes changes 
into the following products in the order named. Paracasein 
changes by the action of lactic acid into paracasein-monolactate 
(lactic-acid-paracasein) , para-nuclein, caseoses, peptones, amides 
and ammonia. The first changes are from a substance insolubLi 
in water to soluble substances. These substances do not have 
much flavor, but as the amides de^'-elop the characteristic flavor 
appears. Dr. Van Slyke has shown by careful chemical analy- 
ses extending over a period of 35 weeks that the rate of the 
formation of these decomposition products is dependent upon 
the temperature. 

194. Curing at Different Temperatures. 

Cheese will cure slowly at low temperatures and improve 
in flavor and texture. At the Wisconsin Experiment Station a 
cheese kept at 15° F. for 5 months was found to have cured 
perfectly and to be of a very fine quality, with the exception 
that the freezing had made the texture crumbly. As the tem- 
perature is raised the cheese cures faster. At 60° to 65° the 
most rapid curing takes place at which a good cheese can be 
obtained. A temperature of 70° for any protracted length of 
time will injure the texture and flavor, while a temperature of 
80° will spoil the best kind of cheese. 

195. Curing Shelves, How Made. 

The cheese should be cured on shelves made of good clear 
pine, one and a half inches thick by sixteen inches wide, sup- 
ported every four feet. The reason for having the lumber clear is 

94 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 



95 



-that the sap and pitch from the knots will color the cheese rinds. 
The boards should be wider than the cheese, so that the cheese 
will not extend over the edge and a mark be left on the face of 
the cheese. The board ought to be heavy and the supports- close 
together to prevent sagging, which might make the cheese, espe- 
cially Cheddars, crooked. The cheese should be turned every 
day, and the shelves wiped with a clean cloth. Pains should be 
taken not to soil the cheese nor break the corners in turning:; 
them. 




Fig. 48. — View of Cheddar Curing Room, Wisconsin Dairy School. 

196. Arrangement of Cheese. 

The older cheese should be kept on the lower shelves, and 
the younger ones en the upper shelves, because of the difference 
in temperature between the upper and lower portions of the 
room. The upper shelves being warmer, the younger cheese will 
cure faster and the month's make will be more even than if this 
rule is not followed. 



96 



Cheese Making. 



197. Moisture in the Curing Room. 

A matter that has not received proper attention in curing 
American Cheddar cheese is the humidity of the air in the 
curing room. There are two instruments for measuring the 
humidity — the hygroscope and psychrometer. 

198. The Hygroscope. 

The hygroscope is an instrument consisting of a coil of ma- 
terial very sensitive to moisture. As it takes up from or gives 
off water to the atmosphere the coil moves a hand around a dial 
which shows the per cent of humidity. 




Fig. 49. — Hygrometer or Hygroscope. 



199. The Psychrometer. 

The psychrometer consists of two accurate thermometers. 
On the bulb of one is a wick which dips in a cup of distilled 
water. "When the air is saturated it has all the water it will 
hold. If the air is not saturated, water will evaporate from the 
wick, and the dryer the air the greater the evaporation. As 
the water passes from around the bulb into the air it lowers the 
temperature. 

The thermometer should be fanned briskly with a good fan 
for three minutes, and then the reading taken quickly. First 
find the dry-bulb reading on the chart and then the wet-bulb 
reading in the next column ; in the third column, opposite the 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 97 

dry-bulb reading, is the relative humidity, or per cent of satura- 
tion, i. e., the per cent of water the air is capable of holding at 
that temperature. 

The psychrometer is not as handy as the hygrometer, but is 
considered more reliable. 



Fig. 50. — Psychrometer. 



The United States Weather Bureau has prepared a table of 
readings with the corresponding humidity. The following table 
has been arranged for use in curing rooms by Professor F. H. 
King. 



98 



Cheese Making. 



Table Showing the Relative Humidity in the Air of Curing Rooms. 

Directions. — Notice that the table is in three column sections. Find 
air temperature in first coliunn, then find wet bulb temperature in second 
column, same division. In third column opposite this is the relative hum- 
idity. 

Example. — Air temperature is 50°, in first column; wet bulb is 44°, in 
second column, same division. Opposite 44° is 61, which is the per cent of 
saturation, or the relative humidity of the air. 



£ 


5 


a 


5 


jQ 


a 


4 


5 


a 


;Q 


^ 


s 


■3 


3 


s 





9 


d 


a 


s 


3 


3 


9 


13 


w 


W 


W 


pq 


w 


w 


W 


P3 


K 


W 


w 


w 


>> 

a 




"3 
P5 




a; 




q 




P5 


>1 

Q 




P3 




32 


37 




36 


48 




37 


38 


48 


47 


93 




33 
34 


4i 

52 




37 
38 


55 
62 




38 
39 


45 

51 
















40 


35 


59 


43 


39 


70 




40 


58 




38 


30 


36 


68 




40 


77 


46 


41 


65 




39 


36 




37 


76 




41 


85 




42 


72 




40 


42 




38 


84 




42 


92 




43 


79 




41 


48 




39 


92 










44 
45 


85 
93 


49 


42 
43 


54 










60 




32 






34 


29 
36 










44 
45 


67 
73 




31 




35 












33 


H8 




36 


' 43 




36 
37 
38 
39 


28 
34 
40 
46 




46 


80 




34 


46 




37 


49 






47 


86 


41 


35 
^ 36 


53 
60 


44 


38 
39 


56 
63 






48 


93 










37 
38 
39 
40 


68 
76 
84 
92 




40 
41 
42 
43 


70 
78 
85 
92 


47 


40 
41 
42 
43 
44 


52 
59 
66 

72 
79 




39 
40 
41 
42 


32 
37 
43 
49 


















43 


55 




33 


33 




35 


31 




.45 


86 


50 


44 


61 




34 


40 




36 


37 




46 


93 




45 


67 




35 
36 


47 
54 




37 


44 










46 


74 






0/ 

38 


50 










47 


80 


42 


37 


61 




39 


57 




37 


29 




48 


87 




38 


69 


45 


40 


64 




38 


35 




49 


93 




39 

40 


77 
84 




41 
42 


71 

78 




39 

40 


41 

47 


















41 


92 




43 


85 


48 


41 


53 




40 


33 










44 


92 


42 
43 


60 
66 


51 


41 
42 


39 








45 




33 


28 










44 


73 


43 


50 


43 


34 


34 




35 


26 




45 


79 




44 


56 




35 


41 


46 


36 


32 




46 


86 




45 


62 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 



99 



5* 


^ 


a 


^ 


^ 


g 


^ 


si 


s 


ji 


£" 


a 


3 




pq 


3 
W 


3 


W 


3 


3 


3 

pq 


3 


3 
W 


3 


3 

K 


>, 


<i> 


~ 


.^ 


OJ 


,-; 


>> 


O) 


^* 


>> 


CD 







^ 


« 


Q 


^ 


0^ 


P 


^ 


P^ 


fl 


^ 


P3 




46 


68 




48 


59 




49 


47 




51 


42 




47 


74 




49 


65 




50 


52 




62 


46 


51 


48 


81 




50 


70 




51 


57 




58 


51 




49 


87 


55 


51 


76 




52 


62 




64 


66 




50 


93 




52 


82 


59 


53 


67 




66 


60 










53 


88 


54 


72 


68 


66 


64 




41 

42 


35 

40 




54 


94 




55 


78 


57 


69 












56 
57 


83 
89 




58 
69 


74 










79 




43 
44 
45 


46 
51 




44 
45 


34 
39 




58 


94 




60 
61 


84 
89 




57 




46 


44 










62 


95 


52 


46 

47 


63 
69 


47 
48 


50 
55 




48 


39 








49 


44 










48 

49 

50 
51 


75 

81 
87 
94 


56 


49 
50 
51 
52 
53 


60 
65 
71 

77 
82 


60 


50 
51 
52 
53 
54 


48 
53 
58 
68 
68 




52 
58 
64 
66 
56 


48 
47 
51 
66 








60 




41 
42 


31 
36 




54 
55 


88 
94 




55 
56 
57 


73 

78 
84 


64 


67 
58 
59 


66 
70 
74 




43 


41 














44 


47 




45 


36 




58 


89 




60 


79 




45 


52 




46 


40 




59 


94 




61 


86 




46 


58 
63 




47 
48 


45 
50 










62 


90 


53 


47 












68- 


95 




48 
49 


69 

75 




49 
50 


55 
61 




49 
60 


40 
44 


















50 


81 


57 


51 


66 




51 


49 




68 


44 




51 


87 




52 


71 




52 


64 




54 


48 




52 


94 




53 


77 




53 


58 




66 


62 










54 
55 


83 

88 


61 


54 
55 


68 

68 




56 
67 


66 








61 




42 


32 




56 


94 




56 


78 


65 


68 


65 




43 


37 










57 


78 




59 


70 




44 


42 










58 


84 




60 


75 




45 


48 




46 


37 




59 


89 




61 


80 




46 


53 




47 


42 




60 


94 




62 


84 


54 


47 
48 


59 
64 




48 
49 


46 
51 










63 
64 


90 






95 




49 
50 


70 
76 




50 
51 


56 
61 




50 
51 


41 
46 


















51 


82 


58 


52 


67 




52 


50 




63 


40 




52 


88 




53 


72 




58 


64 




64 


45 




53 


94 




54 


78 




54 


59 




65 


49 










55 
56 


83 

89 


62 


55 
56 


64 
69 


66 


56 
57 


63 








67 




43 


33 




57 


94 




57 


74 




58 


61 


55 


44 
45 


38 
43 " 










58 
59 


79 

84 




59 
60 


66 










71 




46 


49 


59 ^^ 

oy 48 


38 




60 


89 




61 


76 




47 


54 


43 


61 1 


96 




62 


80 



100 



Cheese Making. 



"5 


3 


a 
3 


9 


9 


a 

3 


9 





a 


3 


4 

9 


a 


n 


M 


w 


w 


m 


W 


FP 


W 


W 


M 


m 


K 






P3 


p 




"3 

P3 


R 




Pi 






P5 




63 


85 




61 


60 


73 


72 


95 


70 


71 


66 


64 
65 


90 
95 




62 
63 


64 

68 










71 

72 


74 










78 










64 


72 




61 

62 


47 
50 


77 


73 


83 








70 


65 


77 






74 


87 




54 


41 




66 


81 




63 


54 




75 


91 




55 


45 




67 


86 




64 


58 




76 


95 




56 


49 




68 


90 




65 


62 










57 


53 




69 


95 




66 


66 










58 
59 


58 
62 








74 


67 
68 


70 

74 




65 
66 


49 










53 


67 


60 


66 




58 


45 




69 


78 




67 


56 




61 


71 




59 


48 




70 


82 




68 


60 




62 


76 




60 


52 




71 


86 




69 


63 




63 


80 




61 


56 




72 


91 


78 


70 


67 




64 


85 




62 


60 




73 


95 


71 


71 




65 


90 




63 


64 










72 


75 












66 


94 


71 


64 


68 




62 


47 




73 


79 










65 


72 




63 
64 


51 
55 




74 


83 




55 


42 




66 


77 






75 


87 




56 


46 




67 


81 




65 


58 




76 


91 




57 

58 


50 




68 


86 




66 


62 










54 




69 


91 




67 


66 










59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 


58 
63 
67 
71 
76 
81 
85 
90 




70 


95 


75 


68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 


70 
74 

78 
82 
87 
91 
95 


79 


66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 


50 
53 


68 




59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 


45 
49 
53 
57 
61 
65 


57 
60 
64 
68 
71 
75 




■ 






79 




67 


95 


72 


65 


69 




63 
64 


48 
52 




75 


83 










66 


73 






76 


87 




56 


43 




67 


77 




65 


55 




77 


91 




57 

58 


47 
51 




68 
69 


82 
86 




66 
67 


59 
63 


















59 


55 




70 


91 




68 


66 




66 


47 




60 


59 




71 


95 


76 


69 


70 




67 


51 




61 
62 
63 
64 
65 


63 
67 

72 
76 
81 










70 
71 

72 
73 
74 


74 
78 
82 
87 
91 




68 
69 
70 
71 

72 


54 


69 




60 
61 

62 


46 
50 
53 

57 
61 
65 

69 
73 

78 


57 
61 
64 

68 




66 
67 
68 


86 
90 
95 


73 


63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 




75 


95 


80 


73 
74 
75 

76 


72 
75 




64 
65 
66 


49 
52 


79 

83 




57 


44 






56 




77 
78 


87 
92 




58 


48 




69 


82 


77 


67 


60 




79 


96 


70 


59 


52 




70 


86 




68 


63 










60 


55 




71 


91 




69 


67 









Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 



101 



200. Condition of the Curing Room Air. 

The air should have as much moisture as it will hold 
without molding the cheese. Cheese will stand a good deal if 
the air is kept moving, perhaps as high as ninety per cent. If 
kept between sixty and seventy per cent it is very fair, but the 



DETRinENTAL 



HAZARDOUS 




SAFE < 



Fig. 51. — Recorded temperature in an ordinary cheese curing room (curve 
B), and the same in a cellar cheese curing room (curve A). 

instruments show that the relative humidity in American cur- 
ing rooms often gets down to twenty or thirty per cent and the 
cheese then will dry out rapidly and crack. 

201. Supplying Moisture. 

Moisture can be supplied by sprinkling the floor, or better 
still, by hanging up wet sheets that are constantly supplied with 
water. 

To supply a curing room of five thousand cubic feet capa- 
city, at least three cloths thirty inches wide by twelve feet long 
are needed. These cloths cannot be supplied from a tank by 
means of wicks, but if there is plenty of running water a pipe 
with fine holes drilled on the upper side might be arranged 
on which to hang the cloths; water run through the pipe will 
keep the cloths saturated. A gutter should be arranged at the 
bottom to carry off the surplus water. 



102 



Cheese Making. 



After a while the cloths will get stiff from the sediment in 
the water. They should then be boiled in water to which a little 
hydrochloric acid has been added. Do not use enough acid to 
injure the cloth. 
202. Shrinkage in Curing. 

The loss of weight in curing is due to the evaporation of the 
water of the cheese and to chemical changes. The factors affect- 
ing the rate of loss in curing are : 

1. The temperature of the curing room. 

2. The relative humidity of the air of the curing room. 

3. The size and the form of the cheese. 

4. The moisture content of the cheese. 

5. The protection to the surface of the cheese. 

The following table shows the effect of both the size of 
cheese and the temperature of the room on the shrinkage :* 

PER CENT OF LOSS IN TWENTY WEEKS. 



Weight of 


Temperature of Curing Rooms. 


Oheese. 


40 degrees. 


50 degrees. 


60 degrees. 


70 lbs. 

45 lbs. 

35 lbs. 

12X lbs. 


2.5 

2.7 
3.9 
4.6 


2.4 
3.7 
5.9 

8.1 


4.2 

5.1 

8.5 

12.0 



The low-temperature cheese was better in texture and 
milder in flavor than the cheese cured at higher temperatures 
and the low temperatures therefore returned more money, as 
shown in the following table : 



SHRINKAGE IN TWENTY WEEKS. 



Temperature 


Per cent, of 
Shrinkage. 


Scores of 
Oheese. 


Value of 100 

pounds at 10c 

per pound. 


40 degrees. 
50 degrees. 
60 degrees. 


3.8 

4.8 
7.8 


95.7 
94.2 
91.7 


$9.62 
9.52 
9.22 



At the end of twenty weeks the cheese cured at 40° F. was 
worth 22% cents more per 100 pounds than that cured at 50° F., 
and 60 cents more than that cured at 60° F. 



•Bulletin 26i of the Geneva Experiment Station. 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 



103 



303. Central Curing Rooms. 

Central curing rooms appear to be the most economical 
method of handling cheese. A small building containing the 
machinery for making cheese can be erected at little expense. 
Once or twice a week the cheese from a number of such make- 
rooms can be transferred to the central curing room which can 




Fig. 52. — Texture of cold-cured cheese; upper cheese cured at 60" F 
lower at 40° F. '^ 



104 Cheese Making. 

be a large building— very likely cooled by artificial refrigera- 
tion. This arrangement will reduce the labor at the factories 
very materially and an expert can give his attention to the cur- 
ing of the cheese. 

The quality of cheese is not only enhanced at low tempera- 
tures, but the life of usefulness of the cheese is greatly extended. 

Combining the improved quality and increased quantity of 
the cheese cured at 40° for twenty weeks over that cured at 60° 




Fig. 53.— Cheese Factoi-y at Chimney Rock, Wis. The cheese is not cured 
at the factory, but is shipped twice a week to a central curing room at La 
Crosse. 

for the same length of time, the saving will, according to Dr. 
Van Slyke, be $1.08 per 100 pounds of cheese. For a factory 
receiving 5,000 pounds of milk per day this would mean $5.40 
per day. For ten such factories $54 per" day. Considering the 
decreased cost of handling at the make-rooms and the smaller 
cost of one good curing building in the place of ten, it is quite 
evident that the central curing room makes it possible to cure 
cheese in the most economical manner. 

204. Cold Curing of Cheese. 

During late years the method of cold-curing Cheddar cheese 
has been adopted quite generally by large manufacturers and 
wholesale cheese dealers. The cheese are kept at the factory 
for a week or ten days, and then brought to the cold-storage 
ware-house, where they are parafined (see below), and kept in 
cold-storage at below 40° for 2 months or more, according to 
the conditions of the market and the locality where they are to 
be sold. On account of the improved quality and the minimum 
losses through shrinkage in the case of cheese thus cured, this 
iQethod is likely to become of greater impor^^ance as our cheese 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 



105 



industry is developed and central curing rooms are becoming 
still more general than they are at the present time. 

205. Paraffining Cheese. 

The evaporation of moisture from the cheese can be pre- 
vented by applying a coat of parafQne which) is practically im- 
pervious to moisture. If applied at a temperature of at least 
200° F. the cheese will remain bright, as the mold spores are 
killed at that temperature and the paraffine adheres firmly to 




Fig. 54. — Tank used for paraffining Cheddar cheese in factories. The 
steam is admitted into the jacket around the tank and keeps the parafRne 
at the proper temperature. By means of such a tank and a pair of dipping 
tongs cheese can be paraffined easily and rapidly. 



the surface of the cheese. Applied hot, less paraffine is neces- 
sary, thus reducing the expense of coating. About 4 oz. of par- 
aflane will adhere to an ,80-pound cheese if the paraffining is 
done at 210-220° F. Semi-refined wax of a melting point be- 
low 116° F. should be used.* 

The vat in which the paraffine is melted is similar to a 
cheese vat but much smaller. A partition three inches from 

♦Report 1906, Dairy Commissioner of Canada, p. 14, where a convenient 
form of apparatus used at Canadian curing rooms for waxing cheese is 
shown. See also Mich. Sta. Special Bull. 21, Farmers' Bull. 190, and Melick, 
Dairy Ijaboratory Guide, p. 66. 



106 Cheese Making. 

one end does not reach quite to the bottom ; the large cakes of 
paraffine are slipped behind this when placed in the vat. The 
paraffine is colored a light yellow wUh. a little cheese or butter 
color. A frame for holding- the cheese hangs above the vat and 
is counterbalanced by a weight hanging over pulleys. The cheese 
is placed in the frame over the vat and then immersed 10 to 20 
seconds in the hot paraffine. Then it is allowed to hang for a 
few minutes to harden sufficiently to handle. 

Dr. Van Slyke makes the following statement regarding 
paraffine in Bulletin 234 of the Geneva Experiment Station : 

"At the end of seventeen weeks, cheese covered with par- 
affine had lost only .3 pound for 100 pounds of cheese placed 
in storage at 40° F., .5 pound at 50° F., and 1.4 pounds at 
60° F. The saving thus effected, based on the uniform price of 
cheese at 10 cents per pound, would average about 35 cents for 
100 pounds of cheese cured at 40° F., 43 cents at 50° F., and 64 
cents at 60° F. ; or comparing cheese kept at 40° F. covered 
with paraffine, with cheese cured at 60° F, not so covered, there 
would be a difference of 75 cents a hundred in favor of the 
paraffined cheese." 

The objection has been made that by paraffining cheese 
water is being sold for cheese, which is a fraud. The objection 
is answered by saying that it is retaining not an excess of mois- 
ture but the moisture that ought to be kept in the cheese. The 
English trade has objected to coated cheese and Canadian mak- 
ers are conservative about adopting the method. Some factories 
have adopted the method of coating green cheese fresh from the 
hoop. Some Wisconsin dealers have had trouble with some such 
cheese turning sour and going off flavor. Cheese should not be 
paraffiined before about 2 weeks old. Most wholesale houses 
are paraffining all cheese received, but this is usually two or 
three weeks old. The cheese-maker should be careful not to 
paraffine green or soft cheese. 

2o6. Cheese, How Boxed. 

Young Americas are shipped four, Cheddars one, and flats 
generally two, in a box. 



Cubing and Shipping the Cheese. 107 

Where flats are shipped two in a box they are placed one on 
top of the other, and are in| that ease termed "twins." When 
shipped one in a box they are called "singles." 

207. Scale Boards. 

That the rinds of the cheese may be well protected "scale 
' boards, ' ' or very thin basswood or whitewood boards, are placed 
in the box. Two or three are placed on each end of the box, and 
two or three between twins. This number is more than is gen- 
erally ■used, but cheese in this way keep better when placed in 
cold storage. If flats are put together without scale boards, 
and left for any great length of time, they will stick together so 
tight that they can only be pulled apart with difficulty. The 
rinds sweat and are easily broken. They therefore need plenty 
of scale boards. The boxes should be trimmed to one-eighth of 
an inch less than the height of the cheese, so that it will hold its 
place and arrive in the market in good condition. They should not 
be more than a) quarter of an inch larger in diameter than the 
cheese; if there is too much room in the box the cheese will be 
likely to shift around and break the box. On the other hand, the 
box should not be so tight that the cheese will stick in it. 

Boxes that are split or poorly nailed should be rejected, as 
they will be sure to arrive in the market in a dilapidated condi- 
tion. Cheese makers do not realize that boxes that may be in 
fair condition when filled may be entirely useless at the end of 
the journey. 

When the cheese is hauled to the depot the boxes should be 
covered with blankets to protect it from dust and the hot sun. 

208. How Cheese are Weighed. 

In weighing cheese nothing but full pounds are counted. 
For instance, if the weight is 60% pounds, it is recorded as 60, 
or if the beam barely rises at 61 pounds, it is recorded as 60 
pounds, as it would likely lose weight in transportation and be 
cut in weight when in the hands of the buyer. In the large 
warehouses, where hundreds of boxes arrive in a single day, they 
cannot stop to weigh every box, but weigh a few boxes, and if 
the weight falls short the whole lot is docked accordingly. Such 
weighings are referred to an official weighmaster. 



108 Cheese Making. 

209. Marking of Weights. 

The weight should be stenciled, or plainly marked, on the 
box (not the cover) next to the seam, where it can readily be 
found. A lead pencil hardly makes a sufficiently plain mark on 
a cheese box. The brand of the firm to whom the cheese is 
shipped should be stenciled on the side of the box. 

210. Buyer's Stencil. 

The buyer generally furnishes a stencil for marking the 
boxes. Each stencil, so issued to a shipper, has a distinguishing 
number, which is recorded in the buyer's office, and by refer- 
ring to the number the latter will know who shipped the cheese. 
This is especially necessary where several factories make up a 
carload of cheese for one firm. 

If a cheese-maker has any cheese that is not first-class he 
should put a distinguishing mark on them and notify the buyer, 
who mil usually deal fairly with him, when he understands that 
the maker is not trying to take advantage of him. 

211. How to Sell Cheese. 

Cheese is sold mostly on the dairy boards of trade. The 
buyer, after he bargains for the cheese, should be required to 
inspect the cheese at the factory and accept or reject it. He 
should then give a draft on a local bank for the amount due. 
The bank draws on the firm for this amount, at the place of 
business of the firm, and the cheese belongs to the bank till the 
draft is honored. This is a strictly cash basis, and is fair to 
both parties. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER X. 

1. What is the curing process in cheese? 2. At what tem- 
perature should cheese be cured ? 3. What has been learned by 
experiments in curing cheese from the same lot of milk at differ- 
ent temperatures'? 4. How should the curing shelves be made? 
5. How should the cheese be arranged on the shelves? 6. What 
two instruments are used for measuring the humidity of the 
atmosphere, and what can be said as to their accuracy ? 7. What 
precautions should be taken in reading the psychrometer ? 8. 
What is meant by relative humidity, or per cent of saturation? 
9. What should be the relative humidity of the curing room? 



Curing and Shipping the Cheese. 109 

10. How may moisture be supplied to a room artificially? 11. 
How much cloth surface is required for a room containing five 
thousand cubic feet of space? 12. How should cheese be boxed? 
13. What five factors affect shrinkage in curing? 14. "What are 
the advantages of central curing rooms? 16. What is the pur- 
pose of paraffining cheese? 17. At what temperature should 
paraffine be applied? 18. How does the shrinkage between par- 
affined and unparaffined cheese compare? 19. What are the 
objections to paraffining? 20. What are scale boards and how 
should they be used? 21. How should cheese be weighed? 22. 
How and where should the weights be marked on the box ? 



CHAPTEE XI. 
JUDGING CHEESE. 



212. Ideal Cheese. 

One trouble whicli cheese-makers meet with is that they do 
not have the proper idea of a perfect cheese in their minds. This 
arises largely from the circumstances under which they are 
placed. The cheese are shipped out of the factory as soon as 
the buyer will take them, the youngest being but a week or ten 
days old. The cheese may have defects, but the maker does not 
get a chance to see how it will turn out. 

The requirements of a certain market with regard to a per- 
fect cheese are embodied in a ''Cheese Score," which shows the 
number of points on a scale of 100, given to the various quali- 
ties of the ideal cheese, as flavor, texture, color, etc. 

213. Scale for Scoring Cheese. 

The scale of points now generally used in scoring cheese 
at dairymen's conventions and dairy shows in this country is as 
- follows : 

Flavor 45 

Texture , 30 

Color 10 

Make up and general appearance -. 15 

Total 100 

In this scale salt is judged with flavor and texture where it 
belongs, while the very important item of the neat way in which 
the cheese is put up gets proper consideration. In the score 
formerly used, flavor was given 50 points, texture 30, and salt 
and color 10 points each. Under this score a dirty, poorly 
bandaged, crooked cheese might get as high a score as a neat 
square one. 

no 



Judging Cheese. Ill 

Prof. Dean suggests the following scale of points for judg- 
ing Canadian cheese :* Flavor 40, texture 20, closeness 15, even 
color 15, and salt 10, total 100. 

The English scale of points for scoring cheese is also given 
here: 

Flavor, 35; quality, 25; texture, 15; color, 15; make, 10; total 100. 

In this scale quality, which means that the cheese should 
be mellow, rich, melting on the tongue, applies to an old, well- 
cured cheese. The cheese that goes on the market in this coun- 
try does not have this quality. 




Fig. 55. — Cheese Trier. 



In scoring a cheese, this is sampled (tried) by means of a 
cheese trier, and the plug thus obtained carefully examined. 
The trier should be thin, round and a little tapering, so that it 
will pull a round smooth plug. A plug should always be taken 
from the top of the cheese. Never plug it through the bandage. 
When the plug has been replaced in the cheese, the place should 
be! greased over, to keep the cheese from drying out, and skip- 
pers from getting into the same. 

"We shall now discuss the various qualities of Cheddar 
cheese, as expressed by the score given above. 
214. Flavor. 

Flavor is the most important item in the quality of a cheese. 
No matter how good the other points may be, if the flavor is 
bad, the cheese will be condemned. It would be a difficult mat- 
ter to describe accurately just what the flavor should be like, for 
there are different flavors in cheese, which may be equally 
good. This comes about from the different ferments in the 

♦Canadian Dairying-, p. 178; see also Canadian government score, Appen- 
dix, p. 207. 



112 Cheese Making, 

cheese which we cannot as yet entirely control. Bacteriological 
research may overcome this difficulty in the near future. 

The old saying that "the proof of the pudding is in the 
eating of it," is true of cheese. If the cheese tastes good and 
we want more of it, the flavor is satisfactory. It should not be 
sharp enough to bite the tongue, but of a mild lasting taste. A 
great many cheese, in which the flavor cannot be termed bad, 
are still on the negative side ; they do not have that fine lasting 
aroma, although we can eat them quite agreeably, but we do not 
feel that it is a matter of very great importance, whether we 
can have more of the same cheese or not. 

Where experts are judging cheese, they seldom taste it. 
They get the flavor simply by the smell, for if they tasted of 
every plug they would soon be confused as to flavors. 

If a cheese is cold, it should first be warmed in the fingers, 
before judging the flavor. 

315. Texture. 

While flavor stands first in importance, the texture of a 
cheese comes next. The plug should be smooth, not fuzzy. If 
the cheese is not fully cured the plug should bend a little before 
breaking. When held between the eye and the light it should 
be slightly translucent. If the light does, not come through, it 
is a sign that the texture has been injured in the manufac- 
ture, probably by too high acid. When a piece is broken from 
the plug, it should not crumble off, but should show a surface 
such as flint does when broken ; this texture is therefore termed 
a "flinty break." When pressed between the fingers it should 
not stick to them but should mold like wax. Cheese that is 
tough and will not mold down readily between the fingers, is said 
to be " corky, ' ' this is probably due to over-cooking or use of an 
insufficient quantity of rennet to cure it properly. Cheese 
should not be mealy, as is the case with high acid or too highly 
salted cheese. 

A Cheddar cheese with good texture should not have any 
round, smooth or ragged holes in it; but should be perfectly 
solid. (See Fig. 52.) 

Cheese with the round holes, or one that is soft and pasty, 
will go "off flavor" on further keeping. 



Judging Cheese. 113 

3i6 Salt. 

As was said under the subject of salting the curd, salt gives 
flavor to a cheese. In fact, the entire flavor is affected by the 
salt. Cheese that are a little soft and somewhat inferior in 
flavor could be improved by using a little more salt. It has also 
been stated that a free use of salt may injure both the texture 
and flavor of the cheese. The influence of salt is, therefore, 
partly considered under texture and flavor. 

217. Color. 

The color of a cheese, like salt, is another way of judging 
its texture and flavor. A cheese without any coloring matter 
added to it is improperly termed "white." An uncolored 
cheese should never be white, but of a light amber color. If it is 
a dead white, it i^ so because the acid has cut the color out of 
it. In a colored cheese, these defects will be more easily seen. 

The color should be even from one end of the plug to the 
other. A high acid cheese will give a distinct odor to the trier, 
the same as when acid attacks steel. 

In judging cheese, unless some particular market is in view, 
the shade of color cannot be taken into consideration. As al- 
ready stated, New Orleans requires a very high color, St. Louis 
less, Chicago still less, while Boston in this country, and Bristol 
in England, want no artificial coloring. The tendency toward 
making uncolored cheese seems to be increasing. 

218. Gross Appearance. 

A good judge can usually form a correct opinion of quality 
of a cheese from its outside appearance. It should be square, 
and the rind without cracks, for cracks indicate high acid. 
When the fingers are run over the surface, it should be springy, 
that is, it should give readily under the pressure and regain 
its position. If the finger sinks into a place which does not 
spring back, it indicates a hole or soft place in the cheese. The 
rind should not have any white spots on it, as these indicate 
whey. Sometimes the white spots will disappear in time, but 
it is a weak point in the quality of the cheese. 

219. Corky Cheese. 

A corky cheese, as its name implies, has a texture resem- 
bling that of cork. It does not break down and probably will 



114 Cheese Mi^mo. 

crumble in the fingers-. There are two general causes of corky- 
cheese, over-cook and too little rennet. In case of the latter 
cause the cheese will improve with age. 

220. Hard, Crumbly or Mealy Cheese. , 

Too much salt -will make a hard cheese that will probably 
be mealy. A high acid cheese will have a similar texture, but 
the color will be cut and the flavor affected by the acid so that 
the! cause can be distinguished. 

221. Weak Bodied, Pasty or Cracked Cheese. 

Cheese that has too much whey left in it either by under- 
cook or insufficient stirring when dipped, will be soft, and will 
not mold properly, but stick to the fingers. Such a cheese will 
show mottled spots on the rind. Too much piling on the racks 
will make a weak-bodied cheese. In extreme cases the whey will 
run out causing what is termed a leaky cheese. The danger of 
weak-bodied cheese is that they may become sour. 

Cracked cheese are caused either by sour curds or by in- 
sufficient closing in the press. The latter probably comes from 
fat covering the particles of curd and preventing their cement- 
ing into one mass. It may also be caused by over-cook or by 
a draft of air blowing over a cheese and drying it out rapidly. 
Any cheese will be apt to crack in a dry curing room in dry hot 
weather.* 

222. Rusty Spots in Cheese. 

Rusty spots in cheese are caused by bacillus rudensis, first 
discovered by "W. T. Connell in 1896 in a Canadian factory. 
Spots of the size of a pinhead or larger, can be seen at a distance 
of several feet. In bad cases the cheese is colored as highly as 
if annatto had been used, but unevenly distributed. It is 
more prevalent around gas holes and moist spots. A warm cur- 
ing room hastens and a cool room retards them. They usually 
appear in four to eight days. If they do not appear in ten 
days there will be no cut in price. They do not injure the tex- 
ture or flavor, but the consumer objects to the appearance of 
such cheese. 

*D6fects in American Cheddar Cheese are discussed in detail, and causes 
and remedies given in each case, in a special article in the Appendix (see 
p. 199). 



Judging Cheese. 115 

Red spots broke out first in 1883 in a mild form in St. Law- 
rence County, N. Y. In 1884 it was worse, occurring mostly 
in the fall months. It developed at a factory at Hailesboro in 
1892 and the factory was eventually abandoned for cheesemak- 
ing. Other factories in New York and Canada have been trou- 
bled but it has not appeared in other parts of the country. 
Harding and Smith of the Geneva Experiment Station have car- 
ried on investigations, which show that the factory is usually 
the main seed bed, though the bacillus is found in the milk of 
certain dairies. 

If all of the apparatus is put into the cheese vat, then cov- 
ered tightly and a .jet of live steam turned on the utensils for 
an hour, and this operation repeated three times a week, the 
trouble can be practically eliminated. 
223. Poison Cheese. 

There are occasional reports of people being poisoned by 
eating cheese. Fortunately these cases are quite rare, but as 
they are isolated it is difficult for scientists to trace the full 
history of the cheese. Professor Vaughan, of Michigan, some 
years ago carried on quite an extensive investigation of the 
chemical nature of such cheese and isolated a poison called tyro- 
toxicon. This poison causes cramps, acts as a purgative and 
paralyzes the lower limbs. The author's attention was called 
to the case of a factory in which some poison cheese had been 
made. The factory was kept in a neat and tidy manner so that 
it is not probable the poison resulted from carelessness at the 
factory. The maker stated, however, that every cheese contain- 
ing poison had been made when the milk was held several days 
before making into cheese, and in no case was poison formed in 
the cheese when the milk was made up each day. The great ma- 
jority of cases of ice cream poisoning have been traced to church 
socials, where the cream was gathered and held several days be- 
fore freezing. This evidence would indicate that the poison is 
more likely to occur when the milk is held several days before 
being made up. 



116 Cheese Making. 

questions on chapter xi. 

1. What are points in judging cheese and what importance 
is attached to each? 2. Describe the flavor of a good cheese. 
3. Describe a good texture. 4, How does salt affect flavor and 
texture. 5. Describe a good color. 6. What can be learned 
from the gross appearance of a cheese? 7. What are the Eng- 
lish standards for cheese? 8. What is a corky cheese and its 
two principal causes ? 9. What are the causes of hard, crumbly 
or mealy cheese? 10. What is a weak bodied or pasty cheese 
and how is it caused? 11. What are the causes of cheese crack- 
ing? 12. What are rusty spots in cheese and how caused? 13. 
How extensive has the trouble of rusty spots been? 14. What 
is the method of combating rusty spots ? 



CHAPTER XII. 

HINTS ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION 
OF CHEESE FACTORIES. 



224. Independent Factories. 

In the closing pages of Chapter X the advantage of the 
central curing room has been set forth. This will apply only 
where one person or firm controls a large territory '^r where fac- 
tories combine to sell their products. The problem of success- 
fully operating the single factory still remains; in this chapter 
the construction and operation of such independent factories 
will be discussed. 

We will assume that the factory is to be equipped for hand- 
ling ten thousand pounds of milk a day, which is small enough. 

225. Good Foundations. 

In the first place there should be good solid foundations 
of stone piers, which allows the ground to heave and settle, with- 
out raising or lowering the. building. The supports should be 
close enough together to hold the sills in place. 

226. Dimensions. 

The plans may call for a making-room 20x30 feet, with an 
office ten feet square taken out of one comer of it, a boiler room 
10x16 feet attached, and a curing house 20x40 feet, two stories 
high. - 

227. Store Room. 

The upper story should never be used for curing cheese, 
but for storing cheese boxes and other supplies, 

228. Curing Room. 

Some Canadian factories have the curing rooms in a build- 
ing separated from the rest of the factory, but they can be built 
together and the lumber and material thus saved which would 
be needed for a second wall if they were separated. 

117 



118 



Cpieese Making. 



229. Sills. 

We should have 8xl2-inch sills around the outside of the 
building. There should be two 6x8-ineh stringers, running 
across the make-room, and one of the same dimensions running 
through the middle of the long way of the curing room. Ten- 
foot joists can be put between the sills and stringers. The 
dimensions of these joists should be 2x10 inches, and they can 
be placed eighteen inches apart. 

230. Curing Room Floor. 

The joists under the curing room should have rough boards 
nailed close together on the under side, and a five-inch layer 
of tanbark put in between them. There will then be a five-inch 



3 



"Press 




Cuiring SKeluei 






C^he 



Va1 






Ch^ 



Vat 



H It 



' — ' 



7 



rv7 







Fig. 56. — Plan of a Cheddar cheese factory. 

space left above the tanbark, over which a tight, heavy floor is 
to be laid. This may be made, by first laying rough boards, 
and covering with paper, and then laying the regular flooring. 
The tanbark, air space and tight floor are a protection against 
the outside temperature. 



Construction and Operation of Cheese Factories. 119 

331. Vat Room Floor. 

The making room should have a heavy two-inch floor, 
preferably of maple. It must slope at the rate of one inch in 
five feet, toward a ditch at the lower end of the vats or twenty 
feet from the front end of the room. 

232. Curing Room Walls. 

Paper can be put on the studding under the siding, and 
the walls lathed and plastered. The studding is of 2x4, such as 
is generally used, and if tanbark can be easily obtained, it can 
be filled in between the studding. Tanbark is better than saw- 
dust for filling in such places, as mice are not inclined to work 
in it. It is hardly necessary to say, that the top of the room 
should either be ceiled or plastered. 

The curing room must practically be a large box, with walls 
so constructed that the temperature inside will be affected as 
little as possible by the outside temperature; some means of 
introducing cool, fresh air into the curing room is highly de- 
sirable. 

The walls and ceilings will therefore have to be of several 
thicknesses, with air spaces between, like the floor which we 
have already described. 

233. Door and Windows. 

We must not forget, after we have built such walls, to have 
the windows fit tightly and have shutters on the outside. The 
doors must be heavy, with air spaces in them, and close tightly 
with a lever latch like a refrigerator door. 

To construct our walls, we may put the 2x4 studding two 
feet apart, which is to be lathed and plastered inside. On the 
outside, rough boards and paper may be put, and then another 
row of studding, and paper nailed on with boards on the outside 
of these. In the spaces in the outer row of studding, tanbark 
may be filled in. 

234. Joists. 

The joists in the ceiling should be 2x6, ten feet long, 
eighteen inches apart, supported by 4x6 running crosswise of 
the room. If the room is ceiled overhead, tanbark three inches, 
deep can be filled in between the joists, and then a layer of pa- 
per put down before the floor is laid. If the room is lathed 



120 Cheese Making. 

and plastered, boards must be put in to hold the tanbark. 'the 
second story, which is used only as a store room, need not have 
double walls. A tight-fitting trap door should be made between 
the store room above and the curing room below, through which 
to get the cheese boxes down. 

235. Stone Cellar. 

A better wall for the curing room in the first story may be 
made of stone, and built into the side of a hill, for still greater 
protection from outside temperatures, as in the case Avith cellars 
for curing of brick and Swiss cheese. The stone and earth help 
to keep down the temperature of the air in the room. 

236. Curing Cellars. 

In some places cellars made for curing brick cheese have 
been used with splendid results for Cheddar cheese. Such o 
cellar is built into the side of a hill, it is stoned up on the sides 
and rises above the ground just far enough for small windows 
around the top. One trouble with these cellars is that they are 
sometimes so damp that cheese molds rapidly. 

237. Ventilation of Cellar. 

Dampness in the cellar can be obviated by ventilation. At 
each end of the room is an eight-inch pipe running up through 
the roof. One of these has a cone above it to prevent the rain 
coming in through it. On the top of the other is a hood with a 
tail that keeps the hood always facing toward the wind, and 
the wind striking into the hood carries a current of air down 
into the room, while another current of air goes out of the other 
pipe. Dampers similar to those put into stovepipes can be ar- 
ranged in these pipes to regulate the flow of air. If the air 
should get too dry, moisture can be supplied by means of wet 
sheets. I have seen such curing cellars where the inside tem- 
perature did not go above sixty-five degrees, while that outside 
was eighty-five to ninety. We would have to change the plans 
of the factory here given for such a curing cellar. 

238. Sub-Earth Ducts. 

In the first edition of ' ' Cheddar Cheese Making, ' ' published 
in 1893, the use of sub-earth ducts for cooling curing rooms was 
advocated. Since then the system has been put into use and 
is very successful. As one descends into the ground the effect 



Construction and Operation op Cheese Factories. 121 



of the sun's heat is left behind. Lower down the internal heat 
is felt, but in a zone said to be between twenty and eighty feet 
below the surface there is a constant temperature of 48° to 50°, 
or possibly colder. This is indicated by the temperature of the 
spring and well water that comes to the surface. By conducting 
, air down into the ground and then through a system of tubes 
ten or twelve feet below the surface for a hundred feet or more, 
the air can be carried into the curing room at a temperature of 
not over 60° F. If the curing room is well insulated the air 
cannot get in at any other place and will be cool. The air is 
forced into the duct by means of a cowl, which always faces 



n^srC-^ 






C UlflN& 




ffOOM 




SUB-Efi^TH DUCT 




@ 


CN&iNe 


UORI^ 


WOOM 


HOOK 



Fig. 57. — Method of cooling air with cold cold water. A, curing room; 
B, duct leading into curing room; C, E, galvanized iron drums, air and water 
tight; F, thirteen or more 5-inch flues of galvanized iron, 10 ft. long, soldered 
water tight to drums to cool air; D, main air duct from funnel; G, water 
pipe from pump; H, over-fiow pipe; I, damper in main shaft; J 4-inch pipe 
leading from blower to use when there is no wind; K, smoke stack of 
boiler; L, ventilator irom curing room to smoke stack; N, boiler. 



122 



Cheese Making. 



the wind, and the air is thereby forced down the tube into the 
duct. An outlet from the top of the curing room allows the 
warm air to escape. A curing room if built as described, would 
be right to use with a sub-earth duct, but double windows and 
doors should be put in to make the room perfectly tight. The 




4^H: 58.— Section of cheese-curing room and horizontal multiple sub- 
earth duct. A, mlet to curing room; B, end of sub-earth duct in bricked 
entrance to factory; C, cross-section of the multiple ducts as placed in a fac- 
tory at Neenah, Wis. D, B, bricked entrance under funnel at outer end of 
sub- earth duct; F, funnel with mouth 36 inches across; G, vane to hold fun- 
nel to the wind. 



Construction and Operation of Cheese Factories. 123 



A ' >^ 



y^y 






^<> 






-r-:- B 



%mF^ 



.B •-■•.■ 




Fig. 59. — Vertical section of a cheese factory and sub-earth duct in 
well at Colby, Wis. A, A, funnel taking air into well; B, B, B, duct leading 
air from well to curing room; C, D, ventilator. 



124 Cheese Making. 

illustrations here given of the construction of cheese curing 
rooms and of a ventilating duct are taken from Bulletin 70, of 
the Wisconsin Experiment Station, by Prof. F. H. King. 

239. Number and Size of Tiles. 

The first duets constructed were single tubes, but they were 
too near the surface and therefore unsuccessful. The first suc- 
cessful duct was made by placing thirteen rows, one hundred 
feet long, of six-inch tiles eight to ten feet in the ground. These 
tiles were, however, somewhat small in diameter, and by fric- 
tion hindered the passage of air on still days when most needed. 

Professor King recommends not less than three ten-inch 
tiles one hundred feet long for a curing room of 5,000 cubic 
feet of space. Longer tubes and more of them twelve feet down 
would be better, 

240. Use of a Well. 

The illustration (Fig. 59) shows how a well may be used 
for cooling the air of a curing room. It is one of the most 
successful plans proposed for this purpose. 

241. Water Motor Fans for Driving Air. 

The weak point in the sub-earth duct is that there may be 
several days of hot weather with little wind when the cowl will 
not work. At such a time a fan driven by water motor will cir- 
culate the air. The Triumph Dairy Co., Triumph, Ohio, has 
such a contrivance. A five-barrel tank of water on top of the 
building will run the fan most of the night. The tank is filled 
with water by a steam pump. 

242. Boiler Room. 

The boiler room should have a cement floor laid on the 
ground, and the walls and ceiling should be lined with corru- 
gated sheet iron, to insure against fire. 

243. Building Should be Raised. 

The rest of the building should be raised about a foot above 
the ground, so that air may circulate beneath and keep the sills 
from rotting. 

244. Water Supply. 

A good well is an absolute necessity for a cheese factory. 
Water can be pumped into a galvanized iron cistern placed 



Construction and Operation of Chei^e Factories. 125 

above the curing room. This cistern should be set in a drip 
pan, which will catch any leak or sweat from it, and carry it 
outside without leaking through into the curing room. 

245. Hot Water. 

From the cistern, water may be carried in pipes to the 
different parts of the building. The water pipes should be gal- 
vanized so they will not rust. A steam pipe can be connected 
to the water pipe by a T, and the flowing water thus heated by 
turning steam into it. 



j^v>^v1 HIfTn ^--^v>.v>^vs.^ ^ 




Fig. 60. — Plan for a septic tank.* 

This is a cement tank 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 2% feet deep, with a 
partition reaching nearly to the top and dividing it into two sections. The 
top has two manholes G opening into the sections. The sewage enters Sec- 
tion 1 through pipe E, into part A, which is separated from part B by a 
plank partition having 1-inch spaces between the planks, to keep solid mat- 
ter in part A. Solid matter collects on the top by formation of gas. The 
liquids flow from the bottom through pipe F into Section 2. When this fills 
the trap valve is sprung and lets the liquid run out into th© underground 
system of tiles. The tiles should not be more than a foot below the surface 
of the ground, and should be level. Their volume should be a little more 
than the volume of the section of the tank emptied into the tile. "While the 
tank is filling again, the liquid soaks intO' the soil and bacteria near the sur- 
face decompose the organic matter. 

Prof. John Michels of N. C. College of Agriculture has experimented 
with septic tanks and finds the tanks, without the tiles, to be sufficient to 
decompose creamery slops. 

♦Hoard's Dairyman, January 1, 1904. 



126 Cheese Making. 

246. Septic Tank. 

Much difficulty has been experienced in getting rid of the 
sewage around cheese and butter factories. The blind well has 
been a source of contamination of the water supply, and pollu- 
tion of streams has been the occasion for law suits and neigh- 
borhood quarrels. 

The septic tank offers a simple, cheap and efficient means of 
sewage disposal. It has been presented in a number of dairy 
papers. (See Fig. 60.) 

It is two feet deep and above ground, though it may be 
covered with earth. The factory must therefore be built high 
enough to empty the drains into the top of the tank. The sys- 
tem of tiles into which the tank empties should not be over one 
foot below the surface and should be perfectly level. 

247. Sewer Trap. 

At the mouth of the factory drain there should be a sewer 
trap, which is simply an c/3 shaped pipe, in which water con- 
stantly stands and keeps gas from coming up from the septic 
tank. 

248. Whey Tank, How Built. 

The whey tank should be lined with galvanized iron, and 
be placed high enough for a wagon to drive under, and draw 
off the whey by simply opening a valve. The ground ought 
to be paved in such a way that the drip will run off into the 
sewer. A skim-milk weigher will facilitate an equal division 
of the whey, 

249. Elevating Whey. 

To get the whey from the vat into the whey tank, it can 
be drawn into a box or barrel, and from there forced by a 
steam jet into the whey tank. The whey should be scalded to 
keep it sweet, and after the patrons are gone every morning, 
the tank should be scrubbed out and steam turned into it to 
scald it. There should be a platform around the tank and steps 
leading up, so that a person can get into it easily. 

250. Sink, How Made. 

Another necessary thing, which is seldom found in a fac- 
tory is a good sink. It should be iron or galvanized-iron lined, 
and plenty large enough — say three feet long, by twenty inches 



Construction and Operation of Cheese Factories. 127 

wide, by twelve inches deep, properly connected with the sewer. 
At the end of the sink there should be a wide shelf or table in- 
clined toward the sink, so that drippings will run off into the 
sink. This shelf is used to drain tinware, and a steam jet pro- 
jecting through it, can be used to sterilize utensils. 




Fig-. 61.— Wash Sink. 

Hot and cold water connections at the sink should be pro- 
vided, and perhaps a hot water barrel beside it. This barrel 
may be made of galvanized iron, and should be used for a sup- 
ply of clean, hot water, rather than a place to wash dirty tools, 
which should be cleaned in the sink. 
251. Bath Room. 

One thing that a factory should have, though generally 
unthought of, is a bath room. This can be placed above the 
curing room. A room, five by eight feet, can have a floor cov- 
ered with galvanized iron, to catch any drip or slop, and a bath 
tub put in. Hot and cold water can be connected with it, and 
a most desirable convenience thus supplied. 



128 Cheese Making. 

252. Equipment. 

For a factory of the capacity previously mentioned, an 
eight-horse power boiler will be required. A horizontal brick 
arch boiler is preferable to a vertical one, as it will hold the heat 
better, and a person can more easily clean the flues. 

There should be a good steam pump, and possibly an en- 
gine, though the latter is not absolutely necessary. For ten 
thousand pounds of milk two vats of a capacity of 5,200 pounds 
will be needed ; these ought to be provided with whey gates for 
emptying them. 

253. Water Boxes of Vats Should be Lined. 

It is quite essential also to have the water >oxes of the 
vats lined with galvanized iron, or they will leak, making a bad 
muss on the floor. 

254. Curd Sink, Presses, and Hoops. 

It will be remembered that a curd sink is a necessary piece 
of apparatus in getting the curd drained properly; we must, 
therefore, have a curd sink constructed in the way suggested. 

For the curd from 10,000 pounds of milk, two gang presses, 
and either twenty Cheddar or forty flat hoops will be required. 

255. Pressing Flats. 

One should not attempt, as is quite commonly done, to 
press two flats in a Cheddar hoop by putting a divider between. 
Artistic looking cheese cannot be made in that way. 

Flat hoops do not cost nearly as much as they formerly did, 
and the expense will be but slightly increased by providing the 
necessary number of hoops. 

256. Milk, How Lifted. 

If the roadway is not high enough to empty the milk directly 
into the weigh can, a large wheel fixed tight on an axle is 
probably the best appliance for lifting the milk. An endless 
rope runs over the wheel, and by pulling this rope the wheel 
turns and winds up another rope on the axle. This rope has 
tongs on it, which take hold of the milk can. 

The weigh can is placed on an 800-pound double-beam scale, 
which stands in a receiving room or covered platform. This 
platform is built out on brackets in front of the factory. On 



Construction and Operation of Cheese Factories. 129 

one side of the room is a shelf for the milk book, and another 
for the sample jars. The milk is run from the weigh can to the 
vat, through an open tin conductor. 

257. Milk Testing. 

For testing the milk, we should have a thirty-bottle steam- 
, turbine Babcock tester, and a Quevenne lactometer. The Que- 
venne lactometer gives a direct reading of the specific gravity, 
and is used in connection with the Babcock fat test for detec- 
tion of watered milk (62). 




Fig. 62. — Milk Conductor Head, for running milk from weigh can to vat. 

258. Appliances Needed, 

Some of the minor articles needed in the factory, are usu- 
ally lacking, and sometimes there are not enough of the articles 
to enable one to work handily. 

There ought to be two curd knifes— horizontal and perpen- 
dicular—and these should be six or eight inches wide and twenty 
inches long. 

A rennet test will be required, and two or three reliable 
thermometers, for these are easily broken, and we must not run 
the risk of being without one. 

wash dish, two curd pails, three or four twelve-quart tin pails, 
several dippers, one of which has a flat side, and a perforated 
tin bottom, for skimming specks off the milk. 

259. Curing Shelves. 

The shelves in the curing room are supported by cross- 
pieces, attached to wooden posts. These posts are 4x4s, reach- 
ing from floor to ceiling. The cr-^ss pieces are 2x4s, set into 
the 4x4, to keep them from tilting, and a bolt put through to 
hold them in place. The shelves are sixteen-foot boards; six- 
teen inches wide, and one and a half inches thick. They should 
be the clearest pine lumber obtainable. 

The shelving can run crosswise of the room, and if the 
10 



130 Cheese Making. 

boards are sixteen feet long, there will be a four-foot passage 
on the side of the room next to the making room. At the fur- 
ther end of the room from the door to the making room, ten feet 
of space can be left for boxing cheese. 

260. Cost of Factory. 

The factory we have suggested will cost more than the 
ordinary run of factories, for it is much better. Nothing that 
will be a waste of money has been suggested. Certain firms put 
up factories which are inferior to this, for which they get a 
third more money than this will cost. 

As the cost of material in different localities varies so much, 
we have not set a price on this factory, but the necessary facts 
are given, so that anyone can figure on the cost of the building 
for his own locality, and reliable firms will furnish machinery 
at reasonable prices.* 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XII. 

1. What is the necessity of good foundations for a factory? 
2. How should the curing room wall be constructed? 3. Why 
are double windows needed in the curing room ? 4. How should 
the curing room door be built? 5. What is the advantage of 
a curing room in a cellar? 6. How may such a room be ven- 
tilated? 7. What is the principle on which a sub-earth duct 
works? 8. How many and how large tiles should be used? 
9. How deep should the tiles be placed in the ground? 10. 
How long should a duct be? 11. How may air be forced 
through the duct? 12. How large should the cowl be and how 
high should it be placed? 13. How can a well be utilized as a 
duct? 14. How can hot water be secured? 15. Why should 
the water pipes be galvanized? 16. What can be said of good 
sewer connections ? 17. What is a septic tank ? 18. How should 
the whey tank be constructed? 19. How should the whey be 
drawn off? 20. How can the whey be elevated? 21. Why 
should the water tanks of the vats be lined? 22. How should 
the curd sink be constructed? 23. Why should flats not be 
pressed in Cheddar hoops? 24. How should a wash sink be 
made? 25. How should the curing shelves be constructed? 

*For plans of cheese factory buildings and equipment, see also Dairy 
Commissioner of Canada, Rept. 1906, pp. 25-34; Dean, Canadian Dairying, 
pp. 245-8; Mont. Exp. Station Bull. 53; and Mo. Exp. Station, Circ. of Inf., 18. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
ORGANIZATION OF CHEESE FACTORY ASSOCIATIONS. 



261. Plans of Operation. 

Cheese factories are operated on two plans, namely, the 
private and the stock company systems. In the first named 
plan the factory is owned by an individual who furnishes every- 
thing needed in the manufacture, and receives a certain price 
per pound for such manufacture, the milk and the cheese being 
considered the property of the patrons. The patrons then have 
some form of organization for the purpose of selling the cheese 
and dividing the money, and looking after the interests gen- 
erally. 

Under the other system the farmers' organization owns the 
factory, and the officers do all business and hire a cheese maker 
to manufacture the cheese. Co-operative associations are usu- 
ally not successful unless a business manager is given full au- 
thority to manage the business. 

The following by-laws will give a general idea of how to 
organize such an association : 

262. By-Laws for a Cheese Factory Association. 

Article I. Name — This Association shall be knoTvn as the 

Cheese Company. 

Article Il.-^Capital Stock — The capital stock of the Association 
shall be $4,000, divided into two hundred shares of twenty dollars each 

Article III. Officers — The officers shall be a president who shall 
have general oversight of the business of the Association and prosecute any 
case at law that may arise. A treasurer shall receive and disburse all 
money and keep a proper set of books which shall be open to inspection of 
any member of the Association at any time. He shall be the salesman for 

the Association. He shall receive $ per annum for his services. There 

shall be a secretary who shall figure all milk dividends. He shall be Chair- 
man of the Test Committee. 

Article IV. There shall be semi-annual meetings of the Association 
on the first Tuesday in March and October, three days' notice of the time 

131 



132 Cheese ]\Iaking. 

and place of meeting to be given by the president. Special meetings may 
be called by the president, three days' notice of the time and place to be 
given, and upon the written request of ten members of the Association the 
president shall call such a meeting. 

Article V. The division of money for cheese sold shall be deter- 
mined by the fat test of the milk, after expense of making has been de- 
ducted. The remaining amount of money shall be divided by the number 
of pounds of butter fat delivered during the time said cheese vras made, 
to determine the price per pound of butter fat, and each patron shall re- 
ceive that price per pound for the butter fat delivered by him during that 
time. 

Article VI. Test Committee — There shall be a test committee of 
three members beside the secretary vrho shall assist the cheese maker in 
testing the milk. 

Article VII. The price for making cheese shall be one and a half 
cents per pound. 

Article VIII. The cheese maker may reject any milk that in his 
judgment vrill not make first-class cheese. 

Article IX. No milk will be received at this factory that has not 
been properly strained and aerated. 

Article X. These by-laws may be altered at any legal meeting by a 
two-thirds vote of the members present, providing there are at least ten 
members present at such meeting. 

The above by-laws can, of course, be changed to suit any 
particular locality or conditions. The amount of capital stock 
may be altered, or such articles changed to make them suit a 
private factory. 

263. Test Committee. 

Article VI, which provides for a test committee, is for the 
purpose of preventing dissensions. "We quite often hear it 
stated that the maker reads the tests low to get a larger yield, 
or that he favors one patron more than another. Such state- 
ments may be founded on facts, but are often the result of 
suspicions. If the patrons have a committee of their number 
to see the tests made, such a committee cannot fail to secure 
justice. 

264. Quorum. 

The number that shall constitute a quorum has been pur- 
posely left out, for in such an association it is not very impor- 
tant, and might hinder the business of some meetings. The ar- 
ticle on the revision of the by-laws contains a clause that prac- 
tically names a quorum in such a case. 



Organization of Chkese Factory Association. 133 

265. Rates for Making. 

In some Canadian stock companies there are two rates 
charged for making the cheese, a stockholders' rate and a pa- 
trons' rate, which is higher than the former. The patron is not 
entitled to whey. It belongs to the corporation, to be fed to 
hogs owned by the association, or disposed of as the stockholders 
see fit. Each share of stock entitles the owner to have fifteen 
thousand pounds of milk made up at stockholders' rates, and 
after that he must either get another share of the stock or pay 
patrons' rate for all milk made up above that amount. The ob- 
ject of this rule is to make each patron take a financial interest 
in the factory, 

266. Figuring Dividends. 

As is indicated in one of the by-laws the price per pound 
of butter fat should be found, and each patron paid for the 
pounds of fat delivered by him. 

Cheese may be sold each week, but the dividends are made 
for the month. 

The composite samples of milk are saved as described un- 
der the head of milk testing ; these are tested once a week. The 
pounds of milk delivered by the patron multiplied by the per 
cent of fat, gives the pounds of fat delivered by him. The 
amount of money left after paying all expenses is then divided 
by the total pounds of fat for the month to get the price per 
pound of fat. The number of pounds of fat delivered 
by each patron, multiplied by the price per pound, gives the 
amount due him. Theoretically, the pounds of milk delivered 
each week should be multiplied by the weekly test, but if the 
tests from week to week are averaged for the month, and 
the average test multiplied by the amount of milk for the 
month, the result will come very close to the amount obtained if 
each week's fat is found and added together for the month, and 
a large amount of labor will be saved in the calculations. 

If there is a small surplus or shortage of money in figuring, 
it can be added to or subtracted from the next month's money 
before determining the price per pound. 

For an example of dividing the money suppose there are 
three patrons, and during the month they delivered milk as fol- 
lows: 



134 Cheese Making. 

A 3,000 Tbs. milk testing 4.0% =120 Ybs. fat 

B 2,200 lbs. milk testing 35% = 77 lbs. fat 

C 1,000 lbs. milk testing 4.5% = 45 lbs. fat 



Total for month.. . . . . .6,200 lbs. milk testing 3 90%=:242 lbs. fat 

By dividing the pounds of fat by the pounds of milk for the 
month, and multiplying by 100 we get the average test of all 
the milk for the month. This is not needed in the figuring of the 
dividends, but it is interesting to know what the average test is. 

Suppose the cheese made from the milk was 620 pounds and 
sold at 10 cents per pound. We then have $62.00. The cost of 
making was $9.30, and we have left $52.70 to be divided among 
the patrons. By dividing this amount by the 242 pounds of fat 
we get 21.7 cents per poimd. Then 

A has 120 lbs. fat @ 21.7 cts.= $26.04 

B has 77 lbs. fat @ 21.7 cts.= 16.71 

C has 45 lbs. fat (a) 21.7 ets.= 9.76 



Total $52.51 

We had $52.70 to be divided; the 19 cents surplus may be 
added to next month's money to be divided among the patrons. 
One should always prove his figures to be sure they are correct.* 

267. Three Methods of Figuring Dividends. 

Prior to the invention of the Babcock test, milk delivered 
at the cheese factories was always paid for according to the so- 
called pooling system, by which method the milk from all the 
patrons received the same price per cwt., regardless of its qual- 
ity and value for cheese making. This plan is still in use in 
many cheese factories, although it is readily seen that it is un- 
fair to the patron furnishing rich milk, or milk testing above 
the average for the factory. 

The method of payment explained in the preceding is based 
on the test of the milk furnished by the different patrons and 
is believed to be the most equitable and convenient plan for pay- 
ing for milk at a cheese factory, since the fat content of the 
milk determines the quality of the cheese, as well as the amount 
of cheese made per cwt. of milk. The objection to this system 
is that a milk rich in butter fat does not yield quite as much 

*The methods of calculating- dividends at cheese factories are discussed: 
in more detail in "Testing Milk and Its Products," 18th ed., pp. 199-203. 



Organization of Cheese Factory Association. 135 

more cheese than a milk low in butter fat as is indicated by the 
differences in the tests, but the quality of the cheese from rich 
milk is enough better to make up for the small difference in the 
yield per pound of butter fat.* 

As a compromise between the pooling system and the plan 
• of payment by the test, Professor Dean of Guelph (Ont.) Agri- 
cultural College, has suggested the method of adding two to the 
•test;.t thus,, if patron A's milk tested 3 per cent, adding 2 makes 
it 5 per cent; if patron B's milk tested 4 per cent, adding 2 
makes it 6 per cent, thus changing the ratio of the relative value 
of the two milks for cheese-making purposes from 3:4 to 5:6. 
This method of payment which has been adopted at some Cana- 
dian factories, gives an advantage to the patron furnishing milk 
of the poorest quality and renders it advantageous to adulterate 
the milk by watering. An example will illustrate how this works 
out : Let us suppose that a patron furnishes 100 pounds of 4-per 
cent milk ; if he adulterates this with 100 pounds of water, to 
take an extreme case, he will have 200 pounds of milk testing 2 
per cent ; by adding 2 to the milk testing 4 per cent, he will re- 
ceive credit for 6 points in his dividends, while if the milk is 
adulterated as suggested, he will receive credit for 4 pounds per 
hundred weight, or 8 points for his 200 pounds of adulterated 
milk. By basing the dividends on the fat test he would receive 
credit for 4 pounds in both cases, as he has not increased the 
amount of butter fat in his milk by watering it. 
268. Factory Statement. 

A statement containing all necessary items should be given 
each patron so that he can figure the dividend himself. There 
should be a printed form for this. The following may be used : 

MUSCODA CHEESE ASSOCIATION FACTORY. 

Statement for 

Month of 

Sales include following dates to 

No. pounds of cheese sold... . i^' 

■^iliiiSSii 

TSee Bull. 114, Ont. Agric. College; also Dean, Canadian Dairying, p. 146. 



136 Cheese Making. 

Amount of money received $ 

Average price per pound ctg. 

No. pounds of milk delivered 

No. pounds of fat delivered 

Average test 

Expenses 

Money to be divided 

WMch leaves cts. per pound of fat 

No. pounds of milk delivered by you 

Your average test 

Pounds of fat delivered by you 

At cents per pound $ 

Dr. by pounds of cheese at cts. per pound 

Money due you 

No. pounds of fat required for 1 pound cheese 

No. pounds of cheese from 100 pounds milk 

Sec. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIH. 

1. What are the two general plans on which, a factory may- 
be operated? 2. What is a common cause of the failure of co- 
operative companies? Describe how dividends are figured. 4, 
Why should a statement be made to each patron when a divi- 
dend is declared? 5. What are the important points in such a 
statement ? 



CHAPTER XIY. 
SWISS CHEESE— ITS CHARACTERISTICS. 



269. Sweet Curd Cheese. 

It will be remembered that Cheddar cheese was first made 
in England and was iatrodnced into America by the emig-rants 
from England. In like manner the mannfactnre of a nnmber of 
other styles of cheese has been introdnced. These styles are 
what are generally termed sweet-cnrd cheese. The Cheddar is 
made from ripened milk and a certain amount of acid is devel- 
oped in the whey. With the sweet cnrd varieties, however, the 
milk must be sweet, the milk being curdled and cooked up as 
rapidly as possible and then put into the molds before salting. 
The salt is nearly all applied to the outside of the cheese by 
means of dry salt rubbed on the surface or by soaking the 
cheese in a strong brine. 

Among these cheese are "Swiss," of the round and block 
varieties, also brick and Limburger. Swiss cheese has been made 
in this country quite as long as has the Cheddar and with the 
brick and Limburger, will soon be, if it is not already, entitled 
to the name "American." 

270. Swiss Cheese, Where Made. 

American Swiss, or "Sweitzer," as it is called, is made to 
the greatest extent in this country in Green and Dodge counties, 
Wisconsin ; in Wayne, Stark and other counties in Ohio ; and in 
New York State. The makers are mostly natives of Switzer- 
land, who have emigrated to this country and brought their 
methods of making with them. These methods can probably be 
improved upon in a number of ways, as will be indicated. 

271. Description of Swiss Cheese. 

Swiss cheese is known in the old countiy by the name of 
Emmenthaler. Its origin is not definitely known, but it has 

137 



138 



Cheese Making. 



been made in the canton of Bern since the fifteenth century. In 
this countiy it is made in two forms, the round or drum Swiss, 
and the block Swiss. 

The drum Swiss is pressed in large round cakes, twenty- 
four to possibly thirty-six inches in diameter, and four to six 
inches in thickness. Such a cheese will weigh, on the average. 




Fig. 63. — Students making Swiss cheese. 

about 180. pounds. The block Swiss is six inches square by 
twenty inches long, and weighs twenty-five to thirty pounds. 
The illustration (Fig. 64) shows a drum Swiss cheese cut open. 
On top is laid a square which indicates its size. The illustration 
of two block Swiss on page 142 will give an idea of their propor- 
tions. 

272. Determining Quality of Swiss Cheese. 

In order to intelligently discuss the manufacture of the 
cheese, we should know what is required in a Swi?s cheese to 
make it of the best quality. 



Swiss Cheese— Its Characteristics. 139 

273. Flavor. 

First as to flavor. The flavor of the Swiss cheese is a hard 
thing to describe, the same way as it is difficult to express in 
words the flavor of a Cheddar cheese. It can be said, however, 
that the Swiss cheese has a slightly salty taste peculiar to itself, 
a taste that is very pleasing. A cheese that is bitter to the taste 
is to be condemned. 




Fig. 64. — A typical Swiss cheese, showing characteristic holes or "eyes." 
A square on top of it shows its size. The eyes reflect the light, showing 
that they have a shiny suriace. 

274. Texture. 

-A good Swiss cheese should have the right dough, that is, 
it should not stick to the fingers, nor, on the other hand, be too 
dry, but it should mold in the fingers like wax, or as the term 
indicates,, like dough. It should also have plenty of even-sized 
eyes or holes about a half an inch in diameter, evenly distributed 
through the cheese, as is seen in the illustration. These holes 
should have a glossy surface, which is again an indication that 
the dough is right. If it is too soft, these holes will have a dull 
surface. In an old cheese drops of brine may be found in the 
holes. 



140 



Cheese Making, 



275. Color. 

The color should be white. The native Swiss cheese is very 
light colored, probably on account of the feed that the cows get, 
which may influence the character of the fat given by the native 
cows (we know that Guernsey milk is exceptionally yellow, while 
Holstein milk is light-colored), and by the length of time a 
cheese has cured. American Swiss cheese that are quite yellow 
will turn white with more age and cannot be distinguished from 
the foreign article, and except for the name "imported," may 
be just as fine. One reason why foreign cheese meets with so 




Fig. 65. — A serie«> of plugs from Swiss cheese of different quality. Nos. 
1, 2, 3 would be classed as No. 1 cheese, though 2 has rather too many holes. 
Nos. 4 and 5 show the cracks of a glaesler and the corresponding pasty appear- 
ance. No. 6 at the upper end indicates a niszler, though a typical niszler 
would have small holes the entire length of the plug. No. 7 is what would 
be termed a blind cheesie as there are not "eyes" or holes. 

much favor in this country is that it does not reach the con- 
sumer till it is thoroughly cured ; if good American cheese of the 
various kinds are allowed to get thoroughly cured they will 
meet with the same favor. 

276. Grades of Cheese. 

There are, however, poorer grades of this Swiss cheese that 
are not represented by our illustration. Cheese are classed in 



Swiss Cheese— Its Characteristics. 141 

three grades, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Cheese like the one shown 
on page 139 with the right dough and flavor, and the right kind 
and distribution of holes is classed as No. 1 cheese. Cheese with- 
out eyes or holes is termed blind and classed as No. 2. A cheese 
with little gas holes (called pin-holes in Cheddar cheese) is 
termed a niszler, meaning "a thousand eyes." One that is 
pasty and will stick to the fingers usually has few round holes, 
and if it does have them they are not glossy on the surface. Such 
a cheese is likely to have checks or cracl?s, running usually in a 
horizontal direction, through it. These cracks are supposed to 
resemble the fracture of a piece of glass and hence the cheese is 
called a glaesler. 

277. How Cheese is Tried. 

When a buyer goes into a factory to buy cheese he cannot 
cut any of the cheese open, as shown in the illustrations. He 
sees the inside of it by drawing a plug with a cheese trier, as is 
done in buying Cheddar cheese. The picture on page 140 is a 
photograph of typical plugs of Swiss cheese. Plugs 1, 2 and 3 
have the proper kind of holes, though No. 2 has rather too many 
to be classed as No. 1 cheese. Again, the holes in No. 3 or at 
least one hole, was too large, for it cut the plug entirely off. It 
would, however, probably pass for No. 1. Plugs 4 and 5 have 
the cracks of a glaesler, and the little particles of curd roughed 
up show it to be pasty. Plug No. 6 shows a niszler at the upper 
end, while plug No. 7 is blind. 

Requirements of Swiss Cheese. — Now to review the classes of 
Swiss cheese, the requirements for No. 1 are that : 

1. The flavor shall be good. 

2. The texture shall have the right dough, i. e., it must not 
be too dry, neither stick to the fingers, but mold like wax. It 
shall have the right kind of eyes evenly distributed. 

3. The color should be light. 
No. 2 Cheese would include : 

1. Cheese of a second rate flavor. 

2. Glaesler or blind cheese. 

3. Cheese with a very uneven or abnormal development of 
eyes. 

4. Niszlers. 



142 



Cheese Making. 



No. 3 Cheese would include : 

1. Cheese of bad flavor. 

2. Cheese damaged by rats or mice. 

3. Cheese cracked open. 

Cheese damaged by rats or mice or cracked are very likely 
to rot at such points. 

The buyer in the presence of the cheese maker determines 
the grade of the cheese, and marks it on the edge with his trier 




Fig-. 66. — Block Swiss cheese as it appears when of fine quality. 




Pig. 67. — Block Swiss cheese bulged at sides from too rapid formation of 
gas. The salt did not work to the center fast enough. 



Swiss Cheese— Its Characteristics. 143 

by gouging out I, II or III marks. He afterwards brands it 
with a hot branding iron, the brand being usually his initials. 
When the price of No. 1 is 91/2 cents, the price of No. 2 will 
likely be 8 cents, and No. 3 will sell for from 3 to 5 cents. 

Italians like glaeslers better than cheese with the eyes in it, 
, and will often pay No. 1 price for the glaesler and reject a No. 
1 cheese. Some makers regularly turn out cheese of No. 1 qual- 
ity, while others have considerable difficulty in so doing, and the 
difference in price makes a very large difference in the size of 
the maker's pocketbook. The criticism that is often heard re- 
garding our Cheddar cheese is, that there is not enough distinc- 
tion made in price between good, indifferent and bad cheese. 
That criticism cannot apply to the Swiss cheese markets for the 
judgment in buying is very rigid. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIV. ■ 

1. What are the two kinds of cheese which are made with 
reference to the amount of acid developed? 2. Under what 
class does Cheddar fallf 3. Under what class does Swiss cheese 
fall? 4. How is the salt usually applied to sweet-curd cheese? 
5. Where is American Swiss made in greatest quantities? 6. 
By what name does Swiss cheese go in Switzerland? 7. What 
are the two kinds of Swiss cheese made in this country? 8. 
What is a good flavor in a Swiss cheese? 9. What is a good 
texture in a Swiss cheese? 10. What is meant by the eyes of a 
cheese? 12. What should be the size of these eyes, how should 
they appear on their surface and how should they be distrib- 
uted ? 13. What should be the color of a Swiss cheese and what 
conditions influence it? 1. What are the three grades of cheese 
and what conditions determine the grade into which a cheese 
goes? 15. What is a niszler cheese? 16. What is a glaesler 
cheese ? 



CHAPTER XV. 
SWISS CHEESE— FROM MILK TO CURING CELLAR. 



278. Selection of the Milk. 

As has been previously explained, Swiss cheese is made 
from sweet milk. So important does this seem to be that the 
milk is delivered to the factory twice a day and immediately 
made into cheese. It is believed by a good many makers that 
the rennet shonld under all circumstances be gotten into the 
milk as soon as possible. 

279. Cause of QIaesler Cheese. 

Exception may, however, be taken to the opinion that all 
milk for Smss cheese should be set immediately when received 
at the factory, for as may have been observed in the experiments 
with rennet, a very sweet milk does not curdle rapidly nor is 
the curd as firm as the curd from riper milk. It takes a certain 
amount of acid (probably about .17 per cent) to make the ren- 
net expel the whey properly. With too sweet milk, such as is 
obtained in the cool weather of the fall months, it is hard to get 
a good cook on the curd and such cheese will have a pasty tex- 
ture, and a pasty texture will make a glaesler cheese. 

280. Rennet Test Should be Used. 

The milk for Swiss cheese should not be as ripe as for 
Cheddar cheese, but the rennet test should be used to determine 
the condition of the milk, and then the milk, if it is too sweet, 
should be brought to the same degree of ripeness each day, by 
holding or by the addition of a small starter. One of our stu- 
dents reports that with the Marschall rennet test used in his fac- 
tory, a milk that tests five or six will be sure to give a glaesler 
cheese, while milk at 3I/2 will not do so. It should be remem- 
bered that Marschall tests may vary (86), so that each maker 
will necessarily have to determine at what point the milk should 
be set by his particular test. 

144 



Swiss Cheese— From Milk to Curing Cellar. 145 

381. Use of a Starter. 

Swiss makers generally use a homemade rennet, which is 
made up ty them each day by soaking strips of rennet in whey. 
It is even claimed that commercial rennet extract is not as good 
as the whey rennet, as the eyes cannot be obtained with it. The 
explanation for this probably is, that the whey used acts as a 
starter which supplies the necesary acid in the milk to make the 
rennet expel the whey sufficiently. At the same time gas germs 
may be added which will make a niszler cheese (276). Freu- 
denreich has shown that the lactic-acid germ is desired in mak- 
ing good Emmenthaler. By using a commercial rennet extract, 
after adding a good lactic acid starter, a cheese with a good de- 
velopment of eyes can be obtained. As this is being done in ac- 
tual practice it shows that the idea, prevalent among Swiss 
makers to the extent that it is almost a law is incorrect, that 
good eyes cannot be obtained with commercial rennet extract. 
The amount of starter required will not be as much as for Ched- 
dar cheese (113). 




Fig. 68.— Cheese kettle in a Swiss cheese factory near Monroe, Wis. The 
kettle hang-s on a heavy wooden crane. The front of tlie fire place over which the 
kettle hangs also hangs on a crane and can be swung out so that the kettle 
can be swung away from the fire. The opening below the grate will be seen 
in front of the kettle. The round cover is dropped over the top when the 
kettle swings forward. 



146 



Cheesei Making. 



282. Test of Homemade Rennet Solution Not Correct. 

When a maker prepares his whey rennet, he tries a certain 
quantity of it on a sample of milk to see that it is of the right 
strength. If the acidity of the milk were the same each time, 
as well as the acidity of the whey used, this might be correct, 
but as a different lot of milk with a difference in acidity is used, 
it will be seen that this is not a correct way of determining the 
strength of the whey rennet. It is, therefore, better to use a 
commercial extract that will be of the same strength each day. 

283. Swiss Kettles. 

Swiss cheese is made in large copper kettles that vary in 
size from a capacity of 600 pounds to 3000 pounds of milk. 
There are two kinds, the fire kettle and the steam kettle. 




Fig. 69. — View in a Swiss cheese factory, near Monroe, Wis., showing 
the kettle swung around in front of the weigh can. The cover to the fire- 
place has been dropped. 

The fire kettle hangs on a strong wooden crane and the 
height of the kettle is adjustable. The adjustment is obtained 
by means of a strong iron screw on which it hangs, and which 
which may influence the character of the fat given by the native 
cows (we know that Guernsey milk is exceptionally yellow, while 
passes through a nut in the crane. The kettle hangs over a fire- 
place. This fireplace is built in a semi-circular form just large 
enough to receive the kettle, and connects with a chimney for 
the exit of the smoke. The front of the fireplace is built of 



Swi^ Cheese— From Milk to Curing Cellae. 147 

slieet iron, and is semi-circular in form, so that when closed it 
just fits around the front side of the kettle. It is hinged on the 
brick work en one side (the side opposite the kettle crane) and 
the further end cf it hangs from an iron crane which is also 
placed on the side of the fireplace opposite the wooden crane. 
By turning this crane the sheet iron front can be swung out of 
the way so that the kettle can be swung out into the room. 
When the kettle is swung out of the fireplace, this front can be 
closed and a sheet iron lid, hinged against the chimney, can be 




Fig-. 70. — Interior of Swiss cheese factory at Florence, Ohio. Steam ket- 
tles are used and the whey is skimmed with a centrifugal separator. 

dropped to cover up the hole for the kettle. A grate is placed 
in the bottom of the fireplace, and a fire door in the sheet iron 
front gives a place for the operator to tend the fire on the grate. 
The steam kettles are set permanently on the floor, A steam 
jacket is riveted on the lower part so that steam can be used for 
heating the milk. A plug in the bottom connects with a pipe 
for carrying off the whey. 

284. Filling the Kettle. 

The milk is strained into the kettle the same as into a vat 
for Cheddar cheese. If a fire kettle is used the kettle may be 
swung in front of the receiving window. 



148 



Cheese Making. 



Milk for Swiss cheese should be paid for by fat test, the 
same aa for Cheddar cheese. It is sometimes claimed that rich 
milk does not give as good eyes as poor milk. This opinion prob- 
ably comes from the milk being richer in the fall when the 
weather is also cooler, which of course keeps the milk sweeter 
with the attendant result of very sweet milk. (2:81). Rich milk 
will make more and better Swiss cheese than poor or skimmed 
milk. 




Fig. 71. — A Wisconsin Swiss clieese factory; patrons' whey barrels in 
the foreground. 

285. Setting the Milk. 

When the milk is all in the kettle the temperature should 
be noted. The milk has probably not been cooled at home, 
though it ought to have been aerated. (31.) It is therefore very 
likely warm enough for setting. If, however, the tempera- 
ture is found to be below 86° F., the milk should be warmed to 
that point. The rennet is then added and stirred in with a 
large wooden or tin scoop. The milk is put into a whirling 
motion in the kettle by this operation, and after stirring for four 
or five minutes the motion should be stopped, so that the 
coagulum, when it begins to form, will not be broken by the 



Swi^ Cheese— Fkom Milk to Curing Cellar. 149 

force of the current. In the course of twenty to thirty minutes 
the curd should be ready to cut. 

286. Cutting Swiss Curd. 

A Swiss curd when ready to cut should be of about the same 
consistency as a Cheddar curd. That is, it should make a clean 
break over the finger when it is inserted (119). There ought 
to be a cover for the kettle so that the surface of the milk will 
not cool off. It will be remembered that rennet will not act as 
rapidly when the temperature is reduced (74), and one should 
aim as far as practical to keep the heat from radiating from 
the surface. At first the curd is turned over with the scoop 
so that the surface coming in contact with the lower layers will 
warm up. After the surface has been turned over very care- 
fully a scoopful at a time, it is ready to be cut with the Swiss 
harp. 

287. The Swiss Harp. 

The Swiss harp is so called, because it is shaped like a harp. 
It is an iron frame with a long wooden handle. Fine wires are 
strung lengthways of it about an inch apart. Tliis is carefully 
inserted in the curd and by circular motions across the kettle 
the curd is broken into pieces about an inch in diameter. 

288. The Wire Stirrer. 

The wire stirrer is a stick five or six feet long, through one 
end of which a group of wires are worked into a spherical form. 
This is next inserted into the curd, which is brought into a 
circular motion around the kettle. The curd is stirred gently 
for a few minutes to keep it apart while it firms a little. 

289. Another Method of Cutting. 

By means of the stirrer the curd has become about as fine 
as Cheddar curd. With the knives used in making Cheddar 
cheese (122), the curd can at once be brought to this condition 
without breaking and jamming it. It is from this cause that so 
much fat is lost in Swiss cheese making. (18) 

290. Inserting the Wooden Brake. 

A wooden brake that is about four or five inches wide, 
made to fit the side of the kettle closely, is now fastened to the 
kettle. This breaks the current, causing an eddy in the whey 



150 



Cheese Making. 




Fig. 72. — Interior of a Swiss cheese factory, showing a cheese in the press 
and the means of adjusting the pressure. The small engine and churn are 
for making whey butter. 




Fig. 73. — Taking a curd out cf the kettle. The block and tackle with 
curd attached is run on a track over the press. 



Swiss Cheese— From Milk to Curing Cellar. 151 

as it flows around the kettle and the heat is more evenly dis- 
tributed. 

291. Cooking the Curd. 

The kettle is next moved over the fire, or the steam is 
turned on if it be a steam kettle. The operator stirs it vigor- 
ously with the wire stirrer mentioned above, and the curd breaks 
and contracts into pieces as fine as wheat. It is stirred until 
the temperature has been raised to 40° or 42° Reaumur.* After 




Fig. 74. — A round Swiss cheese in the hoop. The cheese is made the 
thickness of the hoop, and the diameter is adjusted accordingly by the rope 
which runs around it. A round board lies on top and presses the cheese into 
the hoop. 

the whey has reached this temperature the kettle is swung away 
from the fire or the steam is turned off, as the case may be. 
The stirring is, however, contined until the curd is quite firm, 
when it is allowed to settle. 

292. Testing Curd for Firmness. 

A curd is considered firm enough for dipping when it 
ceases to feel mushy and will not squeak between the teeth. Some 
makers test the cook by squeezing it into a roll in the hand and 
then noting when it will break short. 

This is a point where the maker's judgment is very im- 
portant. If the curd is not cooked enough, it will result in a 
glaesler, and if cooked too much the fermentations will work 
so slow that eyes will not form. 

*Reaumur thermometers which start with the freezing point of water as 
and run to 80 at the boiling- point, are used almost entirely by Swiss 
makers. 40 and 42° are therefore equal to 130° and 135° Fahrenheit 



152 



Cheese Making. 



293. Dipping the Curd. 

When the curd is finally firm enoug'li, the wooden brake 
in the side of the kettle is taken out and the curd is set whirling 
in the kettle so that when it settles it will collect in a lump in the 
middle of the kettle. It is then gathered up into a linen strainer 
cloth for pressing. The cloth is gathered at one edge in the 
hand and wet in the whey ; it is then spread out and rolled onto 
a flexible iron band. The opposite end is held by an assistant, 
or if the operator is alone, he holds it in his teeth, and then the 
iron band is bent into an arch and slid under the lump of curd. 




Fig. 75. — Block Swiss molds. A, tiie adjustable end, moved by a screw. 
B, the partition which fits into the grooves, making the right sized molds 
after the blocks are cut. C, the cover or follower. 

The corners of the cloth are then ti'ed together and the whole 
thing clraw^n up with a rope and tackle which runs on a pulley 
and track, like a hay fork, to the pressing table. 

It is claimed that if the pieces of curd that are collected at 
last are put into the center, they will cause the cheese to crack 
and from the crack a rotten place will start. The curd should 
therefore be put into the hoop in a lump, and as quickly as pos- 
sible, so that it will not become cool and brittle and therefore 
crack. Where there is curd enough, the lump in the kettle may 
be cut in two and put into two hoops in different dippings. 

We have seen that the curd is cooked to 135" F. ; this would 
seem a very high temperature for a man to put his arms into, 
as the maker has to do when he scoops the curd into the cloth. 
Some observations on this point will show that the whey cools 



Swiss Cheese— From Milk to Curing Cellar. 153 

down to 115° or 120° before the curd is taken out, and is quite 
different from the other high temperature which would prob- 
ably scald him. 
294. Pressing Drum Swiss. 

The pressing table is usually on a brick or stone wall and 
is slightly inclined so that the whey will drain off. The curd 
cloth with the curd in it is put into a hoop made of a band of 
elm wood held in circular shape by means of a cord that runs 
around it. The illustration shows such a hoop with a cheese 
in it. The hoop rests on a circular press board while a similar 




Fig. 76. — Curing cellar in a Swiss cheese factory, near Monroe, Wis. The 
large drum Swiss cheese are on the shelves. The small boiler supplies 
steam for moisture when too dry. 

board is placed on the top of it. The hoop is adjusted in diame- 
ter by means of the cord so that the curd a little more than 
fills it. 

For the first fifteen minutes it is pressed lightly, then a lit- 
tle more pressure is applied, and in half an hour full pressure is 
put on. It is turned several times a day, the cloth being taken 
off and readjusted each time. There are usually two cloths used 
in the operation, one cloth lying imderneath, and the other 



154 



Cheese Making. 



spread over the top and tucked in between the hoop and the 
cheese. Dry cloths are put on several times during the day. 
The cloths should be kept clean by thorough washing and scald- 
ing. Tie press may be worked partially by means of a screw as 
shown in the illustration, but the main pressure is obtained by 
placing a post between the cheese board and a heavy be.am. 
The post is close to the fulcrum end of the beam, while the long, 
heavy end of the beam gives the pressure. 




Fig. 77. — Biock Swiss under pressure in individual molds. 

295. Pressing Block Swiss. 

Block Swiss is practically the same as a round Swiss in 
every way but the form in which it is pressed. It i:3 first pressed 
into a rectangular cake twenty inches wide and six inches thick, 
A sliding end regulated by a screw adjusts the volume of the 
mold to the quantity of the curd. It is turned and pressed in 
this mold just like a drum Swiss for the first twelve hours. It 
is then cut into blocks six inches wide and put into another mold 
with partitions in it just large enough for each piece. Some- 



Swiss Cheese— From Milk to Curing Cellar. 



155 



times, however, the curd is pressed from the start in a mold six 
inches wide by six inches deep and twenty inches long. 

296. Marking Cheese. 

When a cheese has been in the press twenty-four hours it is 
taken out. It should be perfectly square at the edges with no 
wrinkles left in it by folds in the cloth. A black paste made of 
butter and lampblack is used for marking the date on the 
cheese. It is just as important to keep a record of the way a 
Swiss curd may act as it is with a Cheddar curd (192). Such a 
record will enable the maker to follow the cheese in the curing 
cellar. 

297. Salting the Cheese in Brine. 

Most makers salt their cheese in a brine bath. A tank of 
brine is kept in a cool room, sometimes in the cellar. The brine 
is made up by dissolving salt in water until the brine formed 
is dense enough to float an egg. As cheese are salted in the 
bath and absorb the salt, it is necessary to renew the salt quite 
often. The cheese is immersed in the brine, turning it over 




Fig. 78.— Block Swiss cheese in cellar at a factory, near Monroe, Wis 
ihe large brush B on the post is used for washing drum Swiss cheese. The 
brine tank A is seen in the illustration. 



156 Cheese Making, 

occasionally, as the cheese will float and the top rise a little 
above the surface. A cheese is kept in the brine for three or 
four days, according to the amount of salt it is desired to work 
into it. 
298. Salting with Dry Salt. 

Some makers do not use a brine bath for salting, but scatter 
coarse salt en top of the cheese. The cheese is kept on a shelf 
in the cellar, with a salting hoop around it. This hoop is used 
simply to keep the cheese from spreading while it is soft. The 
salt draws moisture from the cheese. This moisture dissolves 
the salt and acts as a medium for the transmission of the salt to 
the interior of the cheese. No more salt should be applied than 
can be absorbed over night, so that the cheese will be dry next 
morning. It is claimed that with the brine method the salt is 
applied more evenly to all parts of the cheese. A cheese is 
salted with dry salt from three to five days. If gas shows in a 
cheese by its huffing or bloating, a little more salt applied to 
that locality will check the gas. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XV. 

1. What is the cause of glaesler cheese? 2. How much 
acid should milk for Swiss cheese have before setting! 3. How 
may the acidity of milk for Swiss cheese be determined? 4. 
Why are makers more likely to have glaesler cheese in the fall 
months than in summer ? 5. What is the effect of whey rennet, 
with regard to the acidity of milk ? 6. What danger is there! 
with regard to gassy fermentations when whey rennet is used? 
7. What is the probable cause of glaesler cheese when commer- 
cial rennet is used and how may this be remedied? 8. How 
much lactic acid starter may be used in milk to be made into 
Swiss cheese? 9. Why is the test for strength of whey rennet 
as generally practiced in factories not correct? 10. To what 
other cause than rich milk can glaesler cheese in the fall be 
attributed? 11. What effect on yield and quality of cheese 
does the butter fat have ? 12. At what temperature should milk 
for Swiss cheese be set? 13. What are the two classes of cop- 
per kettles used? 14. How are the fire kettles kindled? 15. 
Why i.s the current of milk around the kettle stopped in a few 



Swiss Cheese— From JMilk to Curing Cellar. 157 

minutes after adding the rennet"? 16. When is a Swiss curd 
ready to cut ? 17. How much rennet should be used in making 
Swiss cheese. 18. How is a Swiss curd cut? 19. Describe a 
Swiss harp. 20. Why is a Cheddar curd knife better for cut- 
ting a Swiss curd than a Swiss harp ? 21. What is the purpose 
of the wooden brake placed in the side of the kettle while 
heating the curd. 22. At what temperature should a Swiss curd 
be cooked? 23. How do the Reaumur and Fahrenheit scales 
compare? 24. When is a curd sufficiently firm for dipping? 
25. What is the efi:ect of an over-cook? 26. What is the effect 
of an under-cook? 27. How is the curd gathered into a lump 
or cake when firm enough to dip? 28. How is the press cloth 
put around the cake? 29. How is the curd transferred from 
the kettle to the pressing table? 30. How is a drum Swiss 
pressed? 31. How is the hoop or mold adjusted? 32. AA^hy 
should care be taken in putting the last pieces of curd with the 
lump on the press? 33. What trouble may result if the curd 
cracks? 34. How are the cloths adjusted on the cheese? 35. 
How is a cheese marked? 36. What are the two methods of salt- 
ing Swiss cheese ? 37. How strong should the brine be made? 38. 
How long is a cheese left in the brine? 39. How is a cheese dry 
salted? 40. What advantage is claimed for brine salting over 
dry salting? 



CHAPTEK XVI. 
SWISS CHEESE-WORK IN THE CELLAR. 



299. Starting the Eyes. 

From the salting shelf or brine tank the cheese is taken to 
the curing cellar. The curing covers two stages and the cheese 
should be handled in two cellars to secure the proper conditions 
for a perfect curing. The first curing cellar should be kept at 
a temperature of about 70° F. At this temperature the gassy 
fermentations set in and start the eyes. By tapping the cheese 
with the finger, the eyes can be located, for the cheese will be- 
gin to sound hollow. Care should be taken to prevent the eyes 
from forming too much in one part. Eyes may be checked by 
salt, or they may be developed by a little higher temperature 
and more moisture. As a cheese dries out the eyes are checked. 
A steam jet in the cellar will provide desired moisture. 

300. Reason for Making Block Swiss. 

Block Swiss are handy for cutting. Sometimes where the 
fermentations are hard to control, block Swiss is made instead 
of the round variety, for the blocks being smaller, gassy fermen- 
tations can be checked quicker, and on the other hand, where 
the eyes are slow in forming they can be coaxed easier. 

301. Handling on the Shelves. 

The large round cheese is kept on a round cheese board. 
By this means the cheese can be easily handled. It is kept free 
from mold by frequent scrubbing with a long-handled brush 
made for the purpose. When it becomes necessary to turn a 
cheese, it is carried on the board to a table, where it is flopped 
over onto another board of the same kind. The turning of the 
cheese at the press is done in like manner. 

302. The Second Cellar. 

After the eyes have been well started, the cheese is trans- 
ferred to a second cellar which is kept at about 60° F. Here 

158 



Swiss Cheese— TVork ix the Cell.vr. 159 

the eyes may still develop slowly, but they should not bloat the 
cheese. If a maker attempts to ciu-e cheese in one cellar, he 
will be likely either not to get the eyes started, or if they do 
start they may develop too far. 

303. Handling Block Swiss in Cellar. 

Block Swiss being smaller than the drum cheese are more 
easily handled. They should be washed often enough to keep 
them clean from mold. Care should be taken, however, not to 
keep them wet. for in that case the rinds will soften. 

304. Length of Curing Period. 

Swiss cheese cures slowly. As previously explained, the 
enzymes in the milk break down the hard curd into soluble 
peptones. This process takes a niunber of months and a fine 
Swiss cheese should be at least eight or ten months old before 
it is rtady for consumption. 

305. Boxing Drum Swiss. 

Drum Swiss are shipped in large tubs. The tub is made a 
little tapering, and to fit the diameter of the cheese. First a 
large round scale board is put in the bottom of the tub. A 
cheese that just fills the tub in diameter is lifted in and pressed 
tight against the bottom. Another scale board next follows and 
on top of this another cheese is crowded. In this way probably 
six cheese are put in a tub. On top of the last a scale board 
is placed and then the circular cover is forced down on top. 
by the maker standing on it and gently crowding on all sides. 
With this pressure on it the cover is nailed into place. In this 
way the cheese will be prevented from moving and injuiw dur- 
ing transportation. Quite often a thousand pounds of cheese 
will be filled into one tub. If the cheese has to stand in stor- 
age a long time, especially if warm, it may sweat some and the 
scale boards wiU prevent the cheese sticking together and spoil- 
ing the rinds. 

306. Boxing Block Swiss. 

Block Swiss is put up in boxes six inches deep, twenty 
inches wide and three feet long. Such a box will hold a row 
of six cheese. A paper is put in the bottom of the box. scale 
boards between the cheese, and another paper on top. 

The method of grading cheese has been explained (,216). 



160 Cheese INIaking. 

307. Whey Butter. 

It has been explained that in the methods of making Swiss 
cheese more fat is lost in the whey than in the manufacture of 
Cheddar. It is the general practice in Swiss factories to make 
butter from the whey. In the great majority of factories this 
butter is little more than grease. The reason for this is that 
very crude methods are employed in its manufacture. The 
fat as it rises on the whey is soft because it is warm. Under 
these warm conditions bad fermentations are at work causing 
poor flavors. The cream obtained is churned without being 
properly cooled with ice and the grain of the butter is therefore 
soft and greasy. The grease thus obtained sells for about ten 
cents a pound. 

By the use of a separator a much more efficient skimming 
can be done, and the cream will be thick. With ice and a 
proper vat for holding the cream, the butter fat can be hard- 
ened and the cream ripened slowly, thereby securing fairly good 
flavors. If the cream be churned at a low temperature, an effi- 
cient churning will be possible, and a good grain and a fair 
flavor be obtained in the butter. If this butter is held in a re- 
frigerator until shipping, a much better price can be obtained 
for it than for the grease now often sold as whey butter. A 
number of factories where the whey is skimmed by a separator 
and the cream properly ripened, are turning out butter that 
sells for full market price, whereas the factories that are mak- 
ing whey butter in the old way receive only half this price. It 
pays to do things right. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVI. 

1. At what temperature should Swiss cheese be kept to 
start the eyes? 2. How may the location of eyes in the cheese 
be determined? 3. How may an over development of eyes in 
local points in a cheese be checked! 4. What is the effect of a 
dry atmosphere on the development of eyes? 6. How may 
moisture be supplied to a cheese cellar ? 7. What is the advan- 
tage in making block Swiss, instead of drum Swiss. 8. How 
are drum Swiss handled on the shelves? 9. How is a drum 
Swiss cheese turned? 10. Why are two curing rooms necessary 



Swiss Cheese— Work in the Cellar. 161 

in manufacturing Swiss cheese? 11, At what temperature 
should the first and the second cellar be kept ? 12. "Why should 
old and new cheese not be kept in the same cellar? 13. How 
often should Swiss cheese be washed? 14. What will be the 
effect of keeping the cheese too damp 1 15. How long is it nec- 
essary to cure Swiss cheese? 16. How are drum Swiss cheese 
shipped? 17. What is the use of the scale board between the 
rinds? 18. Why should the cheese be crowded into the tub? 
19. How many cheese are placed in a tub and what is their 
aggregate weight? 20. What is the size of a box for block 
Swiss ? 21. How many cheese are put in a box ? 22. How can 
whey butter be made to bring a much better price than is 
now usually obtained for it? 



12 



CHAPTER XVII. 
BRICK CHEESE. 



308. Characteristics of Brick Cheese. 

Brick cheese is probably so called because it is made in 
the form of a brick, and bricks are used for pressing the cheese 
in the mold. Brick cheese has a milder flavor than Cheddar; 
it is moist and suits a large number of people who are especially 
fond of mild cheese. It can be cut into thin slices which do 
not crumble and this brings it into favor. 

It generally contains small holes, but does not have the 
large eyes of Swiss cheese. It is softer than Swiss, but not so 
soft as Limburger. The real difference between brick and Lim- 
burger is that the former contains less moisture and is cured 
in a drier atmosphere than the latter; these conditions of mois- 
ture inside and outside the cheese influence the character of the 
fermentations in it. 

309. Quality of Milk Required. 

For brick cheese, the milk should not be as ripe as milk 
for Cheddar, and on the other hand it should not be so sweet 
that the rennet will not expel the whey properly, for it will 
then have a tendency toward Limburger in the softness of the 
texture and the gas germs may get more of an ascendency in 
the cheese than when the milk is ripened further before setting. 
If the milk is ripe enough so that the curd will string on the 
hot-iron before it can be gotten out of the whey, a Cheddar 
flavor will develop. One of the finest Cheddar flavors that the 
author has ever observed, was in a brick cheese in which one 
■eighth of an inch of acid was developed on the curd at the 
time of dipping. 

310. Milk, When Received. ^ 

It is evident that milk may be received but once a day if it 
is properly cared for, in fact it will be less liable to develop 

162 



Brick Cheese. 163 

gas in the cheese if the milk is a few hours old. On the other 
hand, milk that is over-ripe cannot be used without destroying 
the peculiar character of brick cheese. 

The rennet test and the acid test previously described (82 
and 136) are of importance in obtaining milk of the proper 
acidity for brick cheese. If the milk is found to be very sweet, 
a lactic ferment starter may be added, so that a pure lactic acid 
fermentation may predominate over the gas forms, and thereby 
secure a cheese with fewer holes. 

311. Quantity of Rennet Required. 

Brick cheese is a quick curing cheese, and a little more 
rennet is used than for a medium curing Cheddar. The milk 
will, of course, be a little sweeter than for Cheddar and enough 
rennet is used to coagulate it in twenty minutes. 

312. How Cooked. 

Brick cheese is made in a steam vat; it is set at 86° F., the 
curd cut and the temperature raised for firming, the same as 
with Cheddar cheese. The temperature at which the firming 
takes place depends on the acidity of the milk. "With milk 
nearly as ripe as for Cheddar, 108° F. will do, while 118° or 
120° may be required for very sweet milk. The temperature 
usually employed is about 114° F. 

313. Testing Curd for Firmness. 

Curd, when ready to dip, should feel as firm as curd for 
Cheddar cheese. An over cook will make the cheese dry and 
corky, and an under cook will make a soft cheese approaching 
a Limburger. 

314. Dipping the Curd. 

When the curd is firm enough, the whey is drawn off so that 
only enough is left in the vat to keep the curd from matting 
together. A few handfuls of salt per 1000 pounds of milk are 
then added to the curd for the supposed reason of checking 
gas fermentations, but as the salt dissolves in the whey and 
runs away, this operation can be of little use. Some makers 
are in the habit of salting the milk by placing salt in the strainer 
when the milk is running into the vat, to check the develop- 
ment of acid and gas. This, however, is positively injurious to 



ib4 



Cheese Making. 



the milk as it retards rennet action (92) and does not accom- 
plish the object sought. 

315. Brick Cheese Molds. 

The brick cheese mold is a. rectangular box without bottom 
or top. The common size is ten inches long by five inches wide 
and eight inches deep. In some localities they are eight and a 
half instead of ten inches in length. 




I" ig. 79. — Brick and LimlDurg-er cheese molds. A, molds. B, follower. C, 
draining- board. 

Slits sawed on the inside enable the whey to more readily 
escape. Sometimes molds are made of perforated tin, but they 
do not hold the temperature as well as wood. 
316. Draining Table. 

These molds are placed on a draining table. The table is 
about thirty inches wide, by six, eight or ten feet long, and in- 
clined toward one end. A guard two inches high is fastened 
to the upper end and sides. A half -inch strip is fastened along 
the inside of this guard on which to rest the draining boards. 



Brick Cheese. 



165 



317. Draining Boards. 

These draining boards are a foot or sixteen inches wide 
and have several rows of inch holes bored through them. These 
boards are laid in the drainage table with their ends resting on 
the half-inch strips referred to above. A cloth, such as is used 
on the racks in Cheddar cheese manufacture, is thrown over the 
draining board, and the molds are set side by side on top cf 
this cloth. 




Fig. -80.— Brick cheese in the molds. A cloth is placed under the molds. 

318. Filling the Molds. 

The table is placed close to the vat, and the operator stands 
between it and the vat. With a curd pail he dips the curd out 
of the vat and fills it into the molds. The whey goes through 
the cloth and the holes in the draining boards, and rims down 
the table into a whey gutter. Care should be exercised to get 
just the same amount of curd into each mold so that the cheese, 
when the curd is all pressed tight together, will be about three 
or four inches thick, and will weigh six pounds whiJe green. 
Wooden followers that just fit in the molds are then put on top 
of the curd. 

319- Pressing the Cheese. 

One or two bricks are placed on top of the follower in each 
mold for pressure. In an hour or two the mold is turned over 
and the pressure applied to the other side. This may be done 



166 



Cheese ]\Iaking. 



several times during the twenty-four houi-s the cheese is in 
press. 

320. Salting the Cheese. 

At the end of twenty-four hours, the cheese is taken out 
of the molds and salted in a salting room, which is really a 
cellar room between the making room and the curing cellar. 

The salting table is built like the draining or pressing table, 
with the exceptions that the sides are ten or twelve inches high 
and there are no draining boards laid on it. 





Fig. 81. — Round Brick or Imitation Munster cheese in the tin molds. 

Each cheese is rubbed with salt on all sides of it. 

The salt dissolves and penetrates to the interior of the 
cheese, at the same time expelling moisture which runs off from 
the table. When the cheese is partially salted, the surface is 
scraped with a tool which is much like a piece of a saw blade. 
The small teeth scrape up small particles of the curd which are 
rubbed into the little crevices left between the particles of curd, 
and in this way a smooth rind is formed. The salting usually 
extends over three days, the cheese being turned each day and 
a little coarse salt being laid en the upper side. 

The cheese are piled two or three layers deep, being laid on 
their broad sides. They may be piled deeper each day. 

321. Curing the Cheese. 

From the salting table the cheese is carried to the curing 
cellar, where it is laid on tiers of shelves: arranged around the 
room. These shelves are ten or twelve inches apart. The cheese 



m Brick Cheese. 167 

are laid on their broad sides for a week or two until they begin 
to cure, when they may be laid on their edges. 

The cellar should be kept at a temperature of about 60° F. 
and the relative humidity should be 80 to 90 per cent. This, it 
will be seen, is a little higher than is best for Cheddar cheese. 
With such a humid atmosphere the cheese will probably mold, 
and the maker is kept busy washing the mold off from the 
cheese. He should get around to wash each cheese once or twice 
a week, and if necessary oftener. The water used may be clear 
water, or it may have a little salt dissolved in it. 




Fig-. S2. — Brick and Munster cheese in curing cellar. 

322. Appearance of Gas, Remedy. 

If gas appears in the cheese it will huff up and bulge out 
at the ends, sides and edges. Where this occurs to any great 
extent the value of the cheese is reduced, and the best remedy 
is to apply the Wisconsin curd test to the milk and eliminate 
the cause. The value of this test was first demonstrated in brick- 
cheese factories. 

323. Curing Process. 

A plug from a green cheese will be very harsh to the feel, 
and the plug will bend like rubber. In the course of about two 
weeks the harshness begins to disappear, and the cheese will 
break down in the fingers, and mold like wax, though it is some- 
what softer and the plug more elastic than Cheddar. 



168 Cheese Making. 

Brick cheese is usually shipped when it is a month old. 
If cured slowly, it is better at two months old, but being softer 
it is not as long lived as Cheddar. 

324. How the Cheese is Shipped. 

When brick cheese is ready to ship, it is wrapped in a good 
quality of Manilla paper and packed in rectangular boxes that 
are twenty inches wide, five inches deep, and three feet long, 
the same size as a Limburger box and one inch shallower than 
a block Swiss box. Each box will hold twenty to twenty-five 
cheese, and the net weight of the cheese in the box will be one 
hundred and five to one hundred and twenty pounds. The box 
weighs about fifteen pounds more. 

325. Fancy Styles. 

It has been pointed out that the market calls for odd sizes 
and shapes of Cheddar at higher prices than for the large Ched- 
dar form. The same thing is true of brick cheese. A round 
cheese called a Munster is made in the same way as brick, ex- 
cepting that the molds are round, and made of tin with holes 
punched in the sides for the whey to more readily drain out. 
Being round they are always laid on the flat ends to keep them 
in shape. The salting and curing is the same as for brick, as is 
also the method of shipping. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVII. 

1. Why is brick cheese called by that name? 2. What are 
the characteristics of brick cheese? 3. What quality of milk is 
required for brick cheese? 4. How often should milk be re- 
ceived? 5. What can be said about the use of a lactic ferment 
starter in milk for brick cheese? 6. How much rennet should 
be used to set milk for brick cheese ? 7. In what kind of a milk 
receptacle is brick cheese made? 8. How does the temperature, 
at which the curd should be cooked, vary with the acidity of the 
milk? 9. How firm should the curd be for dipping? 10. What 
would be the effect in the cheese of an over-cook? 11. What 
would be the effect of an under-cook? 12. How far is the whey 
drawn off from the curd before dipping? 13. Describe a brick 
cheese mold. 14. Describe a draining table and draining boards. 
15. What kind of a cloth is used to cover the draining boards? 



. Brick Cheese. 169 

16. How is tke curd filled into the molds? 17. What are the 
dimensions and weight of a brick cheese 1 18. How is the pres- 
sure applied to the cheese? 19. How long is the cheese kept in 
the molds. 20. Describe a salting table. 21. How are brick 
cheese salted? 22. How are the little crevices on the surface 
between particles of curd filled in ? 23. How long is the cheese 
salted? 24. At what temperature should brick cheese be cured? 
25. What should be the relative humidity of the air in the cel- 
lar? 26. Why and how often should the cheese be washed? 
27. What physical change does brick cheese undergo in cur- 
ing? 28. How is brick cheese packed for shipment? 29. How 
long should brick cheese be cured? 30. How does the life of 
brick cheese compare with that of Cheddar and Swiss, and why ? 
31. What is Munster cheese and how is it made ? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
LIMBURGER CHEESE. 



326. Origin of Limburger. 

Limburger cheese is of foreign origin, having come from 
the province of Liittich in Belgium. Its manufacture in this 
country is, however, carried on by Swiss and German rather 
than by Belgian emigrants. 

327. Characteristics of Limburger. 

Limburger is perhaps more generally known by its odor 
than by anything else. Many people who have never tasted it 
recognize the odor. But while it is kept cool it does not have 
such a pronounced odor as Avhen warm. It is found on the 
market in blocks five inches square and about two inches thick, 
wrapped in Manilla paper and tinfoil. It has a soft texture and 
a yellowish color. 

328. Kind of Milk Required. 

Limburger is made from sweet milk. Except where the 
milk is gassy, very sweet milk is not an objection as with Swiss 
or brick cheese, for the reason that it is to be made soft and 
pasty anyway, and if the milk were too ripe the rennet would 
expel too much moisture. 

329. Utensils Used. 

A steam vat and curd knives, like those used for Cheddar 
and brick cheese are used in the manufacture of Limburger. 
A draining table like those used for brick cheese is also used but 
the molds and subsequent handling are different than for brick. 

330. Setting the Milk. 

As the milk used may be sweeter than for brick it should 
be set at 90° F., which is a little higher temperature than is used 
in making brick cheese. It is probably made up twice a day 

170 



LiMBURGER Cheese. 171 

and its temperature when received may be a little higher 
than this. If it happens to be higher it can be set at the tem- 
perature it has without cooling to 90°. Enough rennet should 
be used to coagulate the milk in twenty to thirty minutes. 

331. Cooking Limburger Curd. 

The curd is cut when as firm as for Cheddar and brick, 
that is, when it will break over the finger with a clean fracture. 
The curd is stirred and the temperature raised in the same man- 
ner as for the above mentioned kinds with the exception that the 
firming is done at a lower temperature. Ninety-six degrees is 
the temperature at which it is usually cooked. If the milk is 
very sweet the temperature must necessarily be a little higher 
than when some acid has developed. The curd is dipped when 
a little softer than in making brick cheese. 

332. Dipping the Curd. 

When the curd is firm enough the whey is drawn down so 
that it just covers the curd as is done in making brick cheese. 
The Limburger mold is made just like the brick mold with the 
exception that it is twenty inches long instead of ten. The curd 
is dipped into these molds and allowed to settle together, brick 
pressure being applied. After about half an hour it may be 
turned over. After resting in this position for fifteen or twenty 
minutes the mold is lifted from the cheese^ which is then a block 
five by twenty inches, and two and a half to three inches thick. 
It is next divided into four sections. so that each section will be 
five inches square. The cutting may be done with a common 
large bladed knife, but a better contrivance is a knife with three 
blades five inches apart. It is made in the following manner: 
A heavy piece of tin five inches wide and fifteen inches long is 
reinforced by a strong wire in the edge. Three pieces of heavy 
tin, four inches wide by five inches long, with the ends turned 
over to stiffen them, are soldered five inches apart on one side 
of the large piece of metal. By simply pressing this instrument 
down on the block of curd, the three blades cut it into four 
equal sized cakes. 

333' Limburger Pressing Table. 

The cakes are next transferred very carefully to the press- 
table. This can hardly be called a press, as the cheese get 



ine- 



172 



Cheese Making. 



no pressure beyond their own weight. The table is like the 
draining table with sides four inches high, but no draining 
boards are used. A rectangular frame the size of the table fits 
inside the table. The rows of the cakes are placed along one side 
and are divided by wooden partitions four inches high and five 
inches long. When the row is completed a long strip, the length 




Fig. 83. — Limburger molds on pressing table, showing the long pieces and 
the short partitions between. 

of the table, is placed against the row and another row is laid 
down. In this manner several rows are laid down and the last 
long strip held in place by several sticks wedged in between the 
strip and the opposite side of the table. The cakes are turned 
a number of times in order to drain them and firm the surfaces. 
The temperature of the room should be about 60° F. In 
twenty-four hours the cheese go to the salting table. 

334. Salting Limburger. 

Limburger is salted in much the same way as brick cheese. 
First the edges are rolled over in a box of salt and then salt 
rubbed on the two broad surfaces. It is laid on the draining 
table in single layers for the first day. The second day it is 



LiMBURGEB Cheese. 



173 



salted again in the same way and piled in two layers ; the third 
day it is salted again and piled three or four layers deep. Lim- 
burger is salted on the average about four days. 

335. Curing Limburger. 

The curing of Limburger is a putrefactive fermentation. 
It goes from the salting table to the curing shelves, where the 
cakes are laid on their broad sides. They are washed every 
day with water to keep them moist and free from mold. The 
atmosphere of the cellar should have a relative humidity of 95 
and the temperature should be about 58° to 63° F. Under 
these conditions the surface soon begins to get shiny and soft 
and change from white to a reddish yellow. This works its 
way to the center, changing the harsh curd to a soft condition. 
After about ten days the cheese may be set close together on 
their edges. This change requires from four to six weeks to 
work to the center, and the cheese is then ready to ship. 

336. Shipping Limburger. 

The cheese is first wrapped in Manilla paper and then in 
tinfoil and is packpd in boxes twenty inches wide, five inches 




Fig. 84. — Limburger cellar. In front is the salting table with the cheese 
in the salt. In the foreground is a box containing salt. The cheese may 
be seen on the shelves. 



174 Cheese Making. 

deep and thirty-six inches long. It may be held in storage for 
a month or two longer before it reaches the consumer, but be- 
ing soft it is not long lived. 

337. Cause of the Putrefactive Fermentation. 

The main cause of the putrefactive fermentation is the ex- 
tremely moist condition in which it is kept. It may be brought 
about in harder cheese like brick and Cheddar, if they are kept 
wet, or come in contact with each other or a moist wall, in a 
very moist atmosphere. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVIII. 

1. Where did Limburger cheese originate? 2. "What are 
the characteristics of Limburger? 3. In what kind of packages 
is Limburger found in the market ? 4. What quality of milk is 
required for Limburger cheese ? 5. What kind of vat and curd 
knives are used? 6. At what temperature is the milk set? 7. 
At what temperature is the curd firmed? 8. What would be 
the effect of over-ripe milk on the cheese? 9. How firm should 
the curd be when ready to dip? 10. What kind of a mold is 
used and what are its dimensions? 11. How much pressure 
is applied to the curd in the molds ? 12. What is the treatment 
of the curd in the molds? 13. Into what sized blocks is the 
curd cut when the mold is removed? 14. How is the curd cut 
into blocks? 15. Describe a pressing table. 16. How long is 
the cheese left on the pressing table? 17. How is the cheese 
salted? 18. How long is the cheese left in the salt? 19. How 
is Limburger handled in the curing room? 20. How long is 
Limburger in curing and what is the physical change that takes 
place? 21. How is Limburger packed for market? 22. What 
conditions especially favor the characteristic fermentation of 
Limburger ? 



CHAPTER XIX. 
EDAM CHEESE. 



338. Characteristics of Edam Cheese. 

In our best grocery stores one sees cheese put up in the 
form of round balls about six inches in diameter. They are 
colored a dark red or are of a bright yellow color, or may be 
wrapped in tinfoil. Each cheese weighs about four pounds 
and sells for a dollar, or at the rate of twenty-five cents per 
pound. The texture is perfectly solid and has a flavor much 
like an old Cheddar excepting that it is a little more salty and 
is a little harder. 

339. Origin of Edam Cheese 

By referring to a map of 
Holland it will be seen that 
North Holland is the portions 
of the country lying east and 
west of the Zuyder Zee. Edam 
is situated on the Zuyder Zee, 
about twelve miles northeast 
of Amsterdam. Edam cheese, 
together with Gouda, is made 
in other parts of Holland, ^'s- ss.-Map of Holland, 

but that portion north of the North Sea canal on which Amster- 
dam is situated, and west of the Zuyder Zee, is especially de- 
voted to Edam cheese. Every week markets are held at Edam, 
Purmerend, Alkmaar and Hoorn for the sale of cheese. 

340. Farming in Holland. 

A large part of the country is below the sea level. Shallow 
lakes or seas like the Zuyder Zee have been surrounded by 
dikes, and the water pumped out, leaving level stretches of 
land that grows luxuriant crops. The cattle are of the breed 

175 




176 



Cheese Making. 




Fig. 86. — Dutch farmers washing cattle at the canal in Purmerend. 









Fig. 87. — A Dutch farm scene In the Beemster Polder. Cattle in the 
barnyard just before milking time. 



Edam Cheese. 



177 



known in this country as Holstein-Friesian. There are a few 
cheese factories, but the farmer usually makes his milk into 
cheese in his own dairy. The utensils are crude, the milk being 
set in a wooden tub and the necessary rises in temperature 
secured by heating a part of the milk or whey in a kettle and 
adding it to that in the tub. The cheese room, stable, living 
apartments and tool rooms are usually all under one roof. In 
May the cattle are turned out in the fields until November, and 
the stables are cleaned out and generally used for curing rooms. 
As there is a lack of wood for lumber the houses are built of 
stone or brick, which holds the temperature, and as the country 
is surrounded and tempered by the sea, ideal conditions are 
naturally present for curing cheese. 

The factories have vats which are heated by steam as in 
this country. 

341. Edam Cheese in Holland. 

Edam cheese has been classed with the sweet-curd cheese, 
but the best quality of it approaches very closely to Cheddar 
cheese. Hollanders have considerable trouble with the gassy 
fermentati-/ns, and use a starter of sour whey which contains 




Fig. 88.— Farm buildings at De Rijp, North Holland. 



178 



Cheese Making. 



a lactic-acid germ. The milk is made up once a day, which 
gives the night's milk a chance to ripen. The author observed 
sour Edams in the factories and dairies, and on the markets, 
which shows that the lactic acid sometimes gets the start of 
the makers. The purpose of the whey starter is to check the 
gaseous fermentations. 




Fig. 89. — C^uring--room of an Edam cheese factory at Hoogskarpsel in 
North Holland. .' '^ 

342. Treatment of Cheese for Market. 

The cheese is marketed when it is about a month old. It 
may mold some on the shelves, and is therefore washed and 
then dried. A coat of linseed oil is rubbed over the surface 
making the cheese shine. It is loaded into carts without boxing 
and carried to market. 

343. Description of an Edam Market. 

On arriving at the market, which is a large open space, 
paved with stones, in the middle of the city, straw is first laid 
down on the pavement and the cheese piled on it in pyramidal 
pile like so many cannon balls. The pile is covered over with 
a cloth to protect it from the heat of the sun. When the mar- 
ket opens, buyers pass among the piles and try a sample from 



Edam Cheese. 



179 



each pile with a trier the same as is done with other cheese. If 
the bargain is closed the salesman and buyer shake hands as if 
they would never let go, but if on the contrary no bargain is 
made, the buyer goes on and the salesman turns the plugged 
cheese over and places it in the bottom of the pile, and awaits 
the next inspection of his goods. When the cheese is sold, it 
is placed on skids, which will hold about 150 cheese, and official 




Fig-. 90. — The weekly cheese market at Hoorn, North Hol'and. The mar- 
ket tauilding-s where the cheese is weighed is just beyond the statue. 

weighers place it upon large balances in the market building 
and balance the cheese with official weights. The buyer then 
takes possession of his cheese. The price paid will probably 
correspond to the price paid for Cheddar in this country. The 
best cheese reach this country, but are not consumed until they 
are eight, ten or possibly twelve months old. The fine charac- 
teristic flavor cannot be developed in less time, and it must 
be developed at a temperature not to exceed 65° F. When it 
is cured, the cheese may be smoothed down in a turning lathe. 
The red color is obtained by immersing it for half a minute 
in an alcoholic solution of carmine. 



180 



Cheese Making. 



344. Possibilities of Manufacture in America. 

As the milk in America is generally richer, the sanitary- 
conditions better, and the climate conditions can be artificially 
supplied, it is possible to make an Edam in this country that is 
fully equal, if not superior, to the best imported Edam. 

345. Market for Edam in America. 

Edam as sold at wholesale in this country, is packed in 
cases of one dozen cheese each or about fifty pounds, and sells 




Fig. 91. — Weighing Edam cheese at the market at Hoorn. 



at about $7.50 per case. This is fifteen cents per pound, and 
ought to encourage the manufacture of this kind of cheese. 
Many wholesale houses are very anxious to buy it in large 
quantities. 

346. Method of Manufacture. 

The description already given will give a fair idea of Edam 
cheese as found in Holland. As the methods of manufacture 
used in Holland are crude, the method here given will be for 
practical and scientific conditions as found in America. 



Edam Cheese. 



181 



347. Quality of Milk Required. 

As has been explained, Edam is really a cheese in which 
the lactic fennentation is developed. The milk then must he 
such as is used for Cheddar, and the aciditj' should be deter- 
mined by the rennet test in like manner; in fact, the milk 
should be colored and set, and the curd cut and firmed in the 
same manner as for Cheddar. When one-eighth of an inch of 
acid shows on the hot iron (corresponding to .2 per cent acid), 
the whey should be drawn and the curd stirred free from whey. 

348. Handling the Curd for Edam. 

The curd is held for a time in the vat or curd sink in a 
granular ccndition, to air and develop acid, until it will string 
half an inch to an inch on the iron, and then it goes into the 
molds. 

349. Edam Molds, 

The molds for Edam cheese, as found in Holland, are 
mostly made of wood, but manufacturers of dairy supplies in 
this country have found difficulty in making them of wood, so 





Inside of Top. 



Fig. 92.— Edam Cheese Molds. 



that they will hold their shape and not check. They are there- 
fore making castiron molds which are turned down and gal- 
vanized. Each mold consists of two parts— a bottom part 
shaped like a bowl with hemispherical bottom ; and a top, the 
interior of which is a true hemisphere that fits into the bottom 



182 Cheese Making. 

part, and when pushed into it leaves an interior space perfectly 
spherical. The two halves have flanges on the ends which 
make them set squarely against other molds or the press heads. 
Holes drilled through these flanges enable the maker to insert 
an iron hook and pull the top and bottom apart. Several small 
holes through the ends of the halves allow the whey to escape 
from the imprisoned curd. 

350. Method of Pressing. 

In Holland two cheese go in a press together, one mold on 
top of the other with a wooden 4x4, 3 feet long, placed above 
them both for pressure. A Young- America gang press is bet- 
ter than this, as it saves both labor and space. 

351. Hooping the Curd. 

The curd is packed in the mold as tight as it can be crowded 
with the hands, and is rounded oif on top. The cover is placed 
on top and the mold placed in the press. Pressure is applied 
g-radually for a few minutes and full pressure put on in ten 
minutes. In half an hour the cheese is taken out and dressed. 

352. Dressing Edam Cheese. 

If just the right amount of curd is placed in the mold, the 
cheese will be spherical and not much of a paring will have to 
be taken off where the edge of the two hemispheres meet. A 
bandage of cheese cloth is now wet with warm Avater and 
wrapped around the cheese, and a small cap laid on each end. 
This coming between the iron mold and curd makes the cheese 
close perfectly. Care should be taken to lap the cloth evenly 
so that when taken oft' from the cheese deep wrinkles will not 
be left. The cheese is pressed for the remainder of twenty 
hours. It is then taken out, and if desired, the bandage may 
be taken off immediately, or it may be left until later to prevent 
cracking. It can, however, probably be taken off more easily 
when fresh from the mold. 

353. Salting Edam Cheese. 

The cheese is now rubbed with salt and placed in a salting 
cup. This is a cup slightly larger than the bottom part of the 
mold. It holds the cheese in shape and allows a thin layer of 
salt on the underside. It is salted daily, turning it each time, 
until it feels hard. It then goes to the curing shelves. 



Edam Cheese. 183 

354. Curing Edam Cheese. 

The curing process is practically the same as for Cheddar, 
and the same conditions must be obtained; that is, a tempera- 
ture of about sixty degrees and a relative humidity of about 
eighty. 

355. Shelves for New Cheese. 

The shelves for the new cheese have holes about two inches 
in diameter reamed out on the top side so that the cheese does 
not get out of shape, setting squarely on its end. After a month 
or six weeks it can be set on end without injury to the cheese. 
Of course, each cheese is turned and rubbed every day or two, 
and if any tendency to crack occurs (which is one of the seri- 
ous difficulties that will be met) a very little salt scattered on 
the surface will check this tendency. When the cheese is a 
month old, a little cheese grease or oil rubbed on the surface 
will prevent a too rapid drying out. 

356. Length of Curing Period. 

This kind of cheese will not be a success unless it is cured 
at a temperature not to exceed sixty-five degrees for at least 
eight or ten months. A year of curing will be better. The fine 
flavor comes from the lactic-acid fermentation to start with, and 
then a slow curing in which the curd is changed to soluble 
peptones, such as give this cheese and Cheddar their particular 
flavors. 

357- Preparing the Cheese for Market. 

The cheese, when fully cured, should be washed and then 
scraped or turned down in a lathe. If the fancy requires it, 
the rind may be colored with an alcoholic solution of carmine, 
as previously indicated, and then wrapped in tinfoil to prevent 
further evaporation. 

A box 18x24 inches, six inches deep will hold a dozen 
cheese. Paper should be put in the top and bottom of the box 
and thin pieces of board placed between them. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIX. 

1. What are the characteristics of Edam cheese? 2. Where 
did Edam cheese originate? 3. What is peculiar about the 
farms in Holland? 4. What breed of cattle is kept in Holland? 



184 Cheese Making. 

5. Do farm dairies or cheese factories predominate ? 6. In what 
kind of a vessel is the cheese made and how is the tempera- 
ture regulated? 7. Of what material are the houses in Hol- 
land built, and how does this affect the temperature of the 
curing rooms? 8. What are the climatic conditions in Holland 
in regard to the conditions for curing cheese? 9. Is Edam a 
sweet-curd or an acid-curd cheese? 10. What kind of a starter 
is used in Holland? 11. What is the purpose of the whey 
starter as understood by the Dutchmen? 12. How is the cheese 
in Holland treated for marketing? 13. Where are the princi- 
pal cheese markets in North Holland held? 14. What kind of 
Edams reach the consumer in the United States ? 15. How are 
some of the cheese colored? 16. What conditions are necessary 
to obtain a fine Edam cheese? 17. What are the possibilities 
for the manufacture of Edam in America? 18!. Wliat kind of 
a market is there for Edam in this country ? 19. What quality 
of milk is required for Edam cheese? 20. How is the milk 
treated until the whey is drawn? 21. How much acid should 
there be on the curd at the time of dipping? 22. How long 
and in w^hat condition is the curd held until ready for the 
press? 23. Of what material are Edam molds in Holland 
made? 24. Of what material are they made in this country? 
25. Describe an Edam mold. 26. What kind of press is re- 
quired for pressing Edams? 27. How is the curd put into the 
mold? 28. How long is the cheese left in the press before 
dressing? 29. How is an Edam cheese dressed? 30. How long 
is an Edam cheese pressed? 31. What particular care should 
be taken in dressing the cheese? 32. Why is the bandage used 
on the cheese? 33. Wlien is the bandage removed? 34. What 
is one of the most serious difficulties to be met with in the manu- 
facture of Edam? 35. How is Edam salted? 36. How long is 
Edam cheese salted? 37. How may cheese be prevented from 
cracking? 38. On what kind of shelves should the new cheese 
be placed and why? 39. How long should cheese be cured? 
40. Upon what conditions does the flavor of Edam cheese de- 
pend? 41. How are Edams prepared for market? 



CHAPTER XX. 
COTTAGE, NEUFCHATEL AND SOFT CREAM CHEESE. 



358. Utilization of Skim Milk. 

A great many city dairies that turn a large part of their 
milk into cream have skim milk left on their hands, and to 
make the business pay as well as possible, they naturally look 
for a means of disposing of this skim milk. Usually there is 
quite a demand for the sour-milk curd, known as Dutch cheese, 
cottage cheese, or SchmierJcdse. 

359« Method of Manufacture. 

As this has been made probably for centuries, it would 
seem an easy task, and so it is, if conditions are just right, but 
as large dairies sometimes have difiiculty in obtaining uniform 
results, a short chapter treating about the manufacture of this 
cheese from a scientific standpoint may be helpful. 
360. Curdling Power of Acid. 

As has been explained the casein of milk is precipitated by 
rennet and dilute acids. Sweet milk can be heated to the boil- 
ing point without curdling, but as acid develops, the milk will 
first be coagulated at the higher temperatui es, and then as the 
acidity increases, the temperature at which it will curdle is 
gradually lowered until skim milk containing .6 to .7 per cent 
of acid will curdle spontaneously. At about 70° F. skim milk 
will not increase in acidity above nine-tenths of a per cent, as 
the growth of the. lactic acid germ is checked. Van Slyke and 
Hart found approximately 5 per cent of sugar in milk used by 
them. When the milk contained .9 per cent acid (the maximum 
amount), 1.5 per cent milk sugar, or 28 per cent of that orig- 
inally present, has disappeared ; 62 per cent of the milk sugar 
that disappeared was left in the form of lactic acid. The re- 

185 



186 Cheese Making. 

mainder probably disappeared in the form of carbonic acid and 
other volatile substances. 

361. Effect of Fat on Per Cent of Acid in Milk. 

Fat in milk or cream takes the place of some of the milk 
serum. Cream containing 35 per cent fat will curdle with about 
five-tenths of a per cent of lactic acid, and milk containing 5 per 
cent fat will develop hardly more than seven-tenths per cent of 
acid. This is because the fat displaces a portion of the serum. 

362. Abnormal Fermentations, 

When other fermentations than pure lactic acid occur, 
trouble may ensue, for gas may make the curd froth so that it 
may be impossible to use it, or the curd may be slimy or the 
flavor may be impaired. The way out of such a difficulty is to 
use a lactic ferment starter in the milk (112). 

363. Measuring the Acidity. 

As acidity plays such an important part, it may be desirable 
to measure the acid. For this a Farring-ton alkaline tablet test 
outfit is to be recommended. In addition to the apparatus pre- 
viously described for testing milk for an acidity of two-tenths 
per cent (106), a graduated glass cylinder of 100 c. c. capacity 
is required for measuring the water carefully. One tablet is 
used for each 19.5 c. c. of water, or five tablets for 97 c. c. of 
water. The titration is then made with 17.5 c. c. of milk meas- 
ured into the teacup with a Babcock pipette. Each cubic centi- 
meter of the alkali solution required is equal to one-hundredth 
of one per cent of lactic acid. 

364. Moisture, How Regulated. 

A very important factor in the manufacture of cottage 
cheese is the control of the moisture content. Seventy-five per 
cent of moisture makes a smooth cheese of good texture. More 
water makes it soft and sticky and less makes it harsh like saw- 
dust. The time and temperature used in firming is the impor- 
tant thing here as in the manufacture of Cheddar cheese. The 
following rule will usually apply: Set the milk at 70° F. until 
it coagulates. Cut it fine with a curd knife. Then heat to 90° 
F. in thirty minutes. In ten or fifteen minutes draw the whey 
and dip as described in paragraph 365. 



Cottage, Neufchatel and Soft Cream Cheese. 187 



Van Slyke and Hart made careful investigations with re- 
gard to the influence of the temperature of souring and of sub- 
sequent heating upon the moisture content and the texture of 
the cheese, some results of which are given in the following 
table :* 

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE OF SOURING AND HEATING UPON 
MOISTURE IN CHEESE. 











, M 


>> 






Pi 

ID 

a 




o 


Mo 


gas, 


=29 
£5 






03 

a 

X 

H 

o 
6 


tit 




g S M 


I- 73 O 
03 0+J 

ex3o3 
a^l 


go 

as 


Water 

In 
Oheese. 


Texture of 
Cheese. 


^ 


t^^o 


H^oDc: 


&Ht^W 


HO 








Deg. F. 


Deg. F. 


Minutes 


Minutes 


Minutes 


Per cent. 




I 


60 


80 


60 


15 


135 


77.6 


good 


2 


60 


90 


20 


5 


145 


78.8 


soft 


B 


70 


80 


30 


30 


150 


81.5 


mushy 


4 


70 


90 


40 


15 


10 


73.5 


good 


5 


80 


90 


20 


10 


60 


74.9 


good 


6 


80 


100 


35 


5 


50 


71.8 


slightly dry 


7 


90 


100 


20 





5 


71.5 


slightly dry 


8 


90 


110 


30 





5 


68.1 


tough, hard 



365. Dipping the Cheese. 

As soon as the curd has settled so that it will not interfere 
with the whey strainer, the whey is drawn off and the curd is 
dipped with a curd pail into a cloth strainer. This strainer is 
made of linen strainer cloth, and is in the form of a tube so 
that it can be slipped over a wooden frame. The ends of the 
frame are supported by wooden horses, which are set over a 
drain to catch the whey. The curd is stirred in this strainer to 
free it from the excess of whey. Perhaps a little cream or but- 
ter may be added to the curd at this time to make it softer and 
more palatable. Cottage cheese, like other kinds, is more de- 
sirable if it contains a good quantity of butter fat. A little dry 
sage or caraway seed may also be worked into it to give it flavor. 
Salt to suit the taste, about two pounds to the thousand pounds 
of milk, is also worked in. 

*Geneva (N. Y.) Exp Sta., Bull. 245. 



188 Cheese jMaking. 

366. Hydrochloric Acid Cheese. 

Milk may be coagulated at once by the use of ten ounces of 
chemically pure hydrocliloric acid, sp. gr. 1.20, diluted to ten 
times its volume, per 100 pounds of milk. The milk to be used 
should be at a temperature of 70° to 80° F. The acid is added 
slowly and stirred in carefully to evenly distribute it. Stir un- 
til the whey appears clear. The whey is then drawn otf and the 
curd dipped and salted as described in paragraph 365. The 
yield of cheese by either method will depend upon the composi- 
tion of the skim milk and the water retained, but it will be from 
sixteen to twenty pounds per 100 pounds of skim milk. The 
cost of acid is four or five cents per 100 pounds of milk, or one- 
fourth cent per pound of cheese. The disadvantage of the 
hydrochloric acid method is the lack of sour milk flavor to the 
cheese. This can be produced in a measure by adding some 
sour cream or sour milk to the curd. 

367. Marketing the Cheese. 

Local conditions may atfect the form in which the cheese 
is put up for sale. It can be put into balls or loaves, which are 
cut later, or in paper packages, such as are used for oysters and 
ice cream. It always pays to put up any article in as clean and 
attractive a form as possible. 

368. Neufchatel and Soft Cream Cheese. 

Imitation Neufchatel and soft cream cheese are similar to 
cottage cheese, but made in a slightly different manner. The 
Imitation Neufchatel is made from milk containing three or four 
per cent fat while the milk for the cream cheese should contain 
five to ten per cent fat, the higher per cents making the finer 
quality of cheese. The milk is first mixed with a good starter 
from two to five per cent of its bulk, and then set with rennet 
at 80° F. "When coagulated it is set into a refrigerator or cold 
water is run around it without breaking the coagulum. It is 
cooled to 60° F. if possible and left for twenty-four hours. The 
acid will probably develop to .6 per cent, giving a rich ripened 
cream flavor. It is then carefully turned into a cheese cloth bag 
and hung up for twenty-four hours to drain. If too moist, a 
twisting of the neck of the bag will assist in the expulsion of 
moisture. After the twenty- four hours' draining in the bag it is 



COTCQ^GE, NeUFCHATEL AND SOFT CrEAM ChEESE. 189 

salted. It can be worked into rolls by filling a tube and pushing 
it out with a plunger. The rolls are wrapped first in parchment 
paper and then in tinfoil. 

The cream cheese can be printed with a butter printer. 

This kind of cheese is perishable as it contains a great deal 
. of moisture and must be consumed within a week. It should 
be kept in the refrigerator. 

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XX. 

1. Give two kinds of substances that curdle the casein ? 2. 
What per cent of lactic acid must be present in skim milk to 
curdle it? 3. What per cent of lactic acid will curdle cream 
containing 35 per cent fat? 4. Why does it take a higher per 
cent of lactic acid to curdle skim milk than cream? 5. What 
effect has temperature on the curdling power of lactic acid? 
6. What will be the effect of abnormal fermentations on the 
quality of cottage cheese? 7. How may the per cent of lactic 
acid in the milk be measured ? 8. What is the effect of too much 
acid on the curd ? 9. At what temperature should the milk be 
set ? 10. How high is it necessary to heat the curd to get it 
firm ? 11. How is the curd separated from the whey ? 12. De- 
scribe the strainer into which the curd is dipped. 13. What is 
the object of adding cream or butter to the curd? 14. How 
much salt is required for cottage cheese? 15. What substances 
may be mixed with the cheese for flavor? 16. How should cot- 
tage cheese be marketed? 17. How is hydrochloric-acid cheese 
made? 18. What proportion and what kind of acid should be 
used? 19. What is the disadvantage of making hydrochloric 
acid cheese ? 20. Describe the method of manufacture of Imita- 
tion Neufchatel and soft cream cheese. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC CHEESE OF MINOR 
IMPORTANCE. 



In this chapter brief information will be given as to the 
manufacture of a number of foreign and domestic cheeses that 
are now made to a limited extent in this country. Investiga- 
tions with regard to the possibility of manufacturing other kinds 
of foreign cheeses than those given below are being conducted 
at the present time, and it is likely that the manufacture of 
other styles than those here considered will soon be found prac- 
ticable and prove a commercial success under our American 
conditions, if rightly managed. 

369. Camembert Cheese. 

Camembert cheese is a soft French cheese which is manu- 
factured on an extensive scale in Northwestern France, and im- 
ported to this country in large quantities every year. The sub- 
ject of the manufacture of this cheese in the United States has 
been studied by Storrs (Conn.) Experiment Station, in coopera- 
tion with the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, and very promising 
results have been obtained. The method of manufacture is de- 
scribed as follows by the Station mentioned :* 

The fresh whole milk is warmed to 85° F., and a starter, 
preferably a pure culture of lactic-acid bacteria, is added. A 
rather high degree of acidity (0.30 to 0.35 per cent) is allowed 
to develop, and sufficient rennet (about 8 to 10 cc. per 100 
pounds of milk having an acidity of 0.3 per cent) is then added 
to the milk at the temperature mentioned to secure the desired 
texture of the curd in one and one-half to two hours. The curd 
is cut, stirred gently, and allowed to stand for about fifteen 
minutes, when the bulk of the whey is removed. After being 

♦Bull. 35, 46; Bur. An. Industry Bull. 71, 98; Farmers' Bull. 296. 

100 



Foreign and Domestic Cheese of Minor Importance. 191 

stirred thoroughly the curd is dipped into galvanized-iron forms 
or hoops, 4 inches in diameter and 5 inches in height and open 
at both ends. They rest upon a mat made of fine bamboo strips. 
The cheeses are allowed to drain naturally for four to five hours, 
when they are inoculated with cultures of camembert molds and 
turned. The next morning they are removed from the forms 
and salted by rubbing salt on the surface. When the curd is 
not cut, as is the custom in France, a higher acidity of the milk 
is necessary (0.40 to 0.45 per cent), and a longer period is 
allowed for draining. The next day after salting the cheeses 
are transferred to the first ripening room, which must be nearly 
saturated with moisture and kept at a temperature of 60 to 62° 
F. When placed on boards the cheeses are turned daily. Dur- 
ing the second week they are wrapped in tin foil or parchment 
paper and usually put into small round wooden boxes, after 
which they are transferred to the second curing room, which is 
kept atl a temperature of 56 to 60° and may have a lower per- 
centage of moisture than the first room. Here the cheeses re- 
main for one to two weeks longer when they are ready for the 
market. 

Twelve to fifteen lbs. of Camembert cheese (or 20 to 30 
cheeses) will be obtained from 100 lbs. of whole milk.* 

370. Canned Cheese. 

This cheese is sold under various names, Pot or Canned 
Cheese, Club House, Canadian Club, etc. It is easily prepared on 
a small scale from good well-cured Cheddar cheese. The rind 
is pared off, and the cheese cut into small pieces and run 
through a meat-grinding machine. One ounce of good melted 
butter per pound of cheese is then added and worked into the 
cheese till it is perfectly homogenous. It is filled into small 
jars or jelly glasses, the inside of which is coated with a layer 
of melted butter, filling the jars nearly level and covering the 
cheese with a thin layer of melted butter. The jars are covered 
with parchment paper or tin foil and are kept in a cool place 
until sold or wanted for use. Any housekeeper can easily put up 
cheese in this way, and small dairy farms can supply the local 
market with such cheese to advantage. Cheese thus canned does 

*Circ. Ill, 111. Experiment Station. 



192 Cheese Making. 

not become dry before being used up ; it is very palatable and in 
a convenient form to go directly on the table, and is soft enough 
to be spread on bread or crackers, if desired.* 

371. Farm Cheddar Cheese. 

For a farm dairy it will be much easier to make up sweet- 
curd cheese than sour-curd cheese, described in chapters VI to 
X. For this purpose it is necessary to have a curd-knife, a 
eheese-vat, and a cheese-press ; the method of procedure is as 

follows : 

The milk, which must be clean and sweet, is. heated to 90° 
F., and if any artificial color is required it is added at this time. 
Set the milk with enough rennet extract to coagulate in 20 to 30 
minutes. About four ounces of Hansen's rennet extract per 
1000 lbs. of milk will prove a sufficient amount. 

As soon as the curd will break over the finger cut it fairly 
fine; then raise the temperature one degree in 3 minutes until 
108° F. is reached, at the same time stirring carefully to keep 
the curd particles apart. Hold at 108° F. till the curd is firm, 
that is, till the pieces do not feel mushy. Then draw the whey 
and stir till the whey is well drained out. Salt at the rate of 
214 lbs. of salt to 100 lbs of curd, and when the salt is well 
worked in, it may be put to press. It will, however, improve 
the quality if kept warm, and allowed to stand a number of 
hours before salting and pressing. The cheese should be cured 
in a room (preferably a cellar) where the temperature can be 
kept at 60° F. Higher temperatures may spoil it. The cheese 
should be cured for two or three months before it is sold.f 

372. Gouda or Pantegras Cheese. 

Gouda or Pantegras cheese originated in South Hol- 
land, and takes its name from the city of Gouda. It is 
made to some extent in America, for shipment to the "West In- 
dies, where\ it is known as Pantegras cheese. It is larger than 
Edam, and pressed as flattened spheres. It is a sweet-curd 
cheese, which is salted in brine and cured in the same manner 
as Edam. It must be made from good milk, as gassy fermen- 

*Modem Dairy Science and Practice, Van Slyke, p. 118; see also Utah 
Exp. Sta., bull. 96; Ore. Exp. Sta. bull. 78, and Farmers' Bull. 210. 

tWoll, Handbook for Farmers and Dairymen, 5th ed., pp. 321-22, Monrad, 
ABC in Cheese Making, p. 18, Dean, Canadian Dairying-, p. 97, and Far- 
mers' Bull. 160. 



Foreign and Domestic Cheese op IMinor Importance. 193 

tations will spoil it. In the hot summer months its manufacture 
is dispensed with for this reason. It is packed four in a case, 
the case having little holes covered with wire screen for venti- 
lation.* 



Fig-. 93. — Form used foi' Gouda cheese. 

373. Italian Cheeses. 

Cococavallo, Scamorze or Buttiro. For this Italian cheese, 
the milk is skimmed and then coagulated with rennet, and the 
curd is firm'ed and allowed to settle to the bottom of the vat. 
The whey is then drawn off. The curd is cut into pieces and 
piled on a draining table. After a number of hours of drain- 
ing, it is cut into small strips and thro^^oi into a vat of hot wa- 
ter. The small strips of curd melt together into a mass resem- 
bling taffy. The cheese-maker then draws it out in a string 
and molds it by hand. The usual shape is that of "Indian 
clubs," but it may be in the form of animals. Each form, as 
fast as made, is thrown into a vat of cold water, to set it in the 
shape into which it has been drawn. After a number of hours 
in this cold water, it goes into a brine bath for salting. After 
salting, it is hung up by a string to cure. It may be marketed 
green, or may be cured several months. A small cheese may 
weigh only a pound, a large one five or six pounds. A small 
ball of butter is sometimies worked into the curd, when it is 
termed Buttiro cheese. The cheese is shipped in barrels. 

♦The description of this and the Italian cheeses is taken from the 
author's article in Bailev. Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. III. See 
also Dean, Canadian Dairving-, p. 182; Minn. Exp. Station, bull. 35, Geneva 
(N. T.) Sta. Bull. 56, and Penna. Station Report 1896, p. 79. 



194 Cheese Making. 

Bicotte. This is an albumen cheese made by heating the 
whey drawn from the former cheese, to about 200° Fahr. The 
addition of sour whey helps to coagulate the albumen, which is 
skimmed out and put into perforated tin cylinders about six 
inches in diameter. These tin molds are slightly tapering, and 
are set one into another for pressure. The albumen block is 
then rubbed with salt and set on a shelf to dry for weeks. A 
steam-heated kiln may be used to facilitate the drying. The 
cheese is wrapped in parchment paper, and packed in barrels 
for shipment. 

Italians coming to America have brought with them their 
methods of cheese-making. In Sullivan and Orange counties, 
New York, and in Geuga count}'', Ohio, there are factories mak- 
ing such cheese. 

374. Danish Pasteurized Skim-Milk Cheese. 

The value of skim milk as a human food article is better 
appreciated in European countries than with us, where Boards 
of Health in some cities even prohibit its sale for this purpose, 
on account of the danger of its being sold fraudulently as whole 
milk. This applies also to food products made from skim milk, 
especially skim-milk cheese. 

During late years an important industry has developed 
in Denmark in making cheese from pasteurized skim milk or 
from pasteurized skim milk to which 10, 25 or 50 per cent of 
whole milk has been added. A very palatable and nutritious 
cheese is made by the method worked out by the Danes, and as 
the subject is of interest to our makers as a possible means of 
utilizing large quantities of skim milk for the manufacture of a 
valuable human food, the method of making Danish skim cheese 
or part skim cheese will be given here. 

The best results have been obtained with 75 per cent centri- 
fugal skim milk and 25 per cent whole milk (or a corresponding 
quantity of cream) .* The skim milk is heated to 180° F. in a 
continuous pasteurizer; 6 to 8 per cent of good butter milk is 
added as a starter, the amount used for pure skim milk being 
ten per cent. The mixture of milk and butter milk will contain 
about .21 per cent acid and is set without further ripening. The 

*Private communication from Dr. Orla Jensen, Copenhagen, Denmark. 



Foreign and Domestic Cheese op Minor Importance. 195 

usual amount of rennet extract is added to the milk, and this is 
set at a temperature of 95° F. The milk is left for half an hour 
before the curd is cut, and the temperature then raised with 
two or three intervals to 100° to 102° F. The cheese is made by 
the granular process, no curd mill being used. The curd is 
salted at the rate of two or three pounds per 1000 pounds milk. 
A 30-pound round cheese and 16-pound square cheese are the 
common sizes made. The cheese is pressed in an upright press 
for 24 hours, and is then placed in the curing room. There are 
two different curing rooms, the first one is kept at a tempera- 
ture of 54°, with a relative humidity of 90°. The temperature 
of the second curing room is kept at 59°, with a humidity of 
92°. The cheese is kept in the first room for three weeks and is 
then transferred to the second curing room where it remains 
until sold, at two^ to five months old. When ripe the cheese is 
well broken down, and has a uniformly clean flavor and a good 
texture. It sells for about ten cents a pound wholesale (75 per 
cent skim) and five cents a pound for full-skim cheese. 

375. Sage Cheese. 

Sage cheese is a favorite cheese with some people and is 
manufactured to a limited extent -in certain localities in this 
country. It is made in exactly the same way as common Ameri- 
can Cheddar cheese, with the exception that a sage flavor is im- 
parted to it, preferably by adding sage leaves to the curd, three 
ounces being sufficient for the curd from 1000 lbs. of milk. The 
sage should be weighed, all stems picked out, and the leaves 
finely powdered and added to the curd just before salting.* 

The Swiss ' ' Schabziger, " green, or ''Krauter" cheese re- 
sembles sage cheese in so far as powdered leaves of a plant are 
added in its manufacture. This cheese, which is found on our 
markets as small grayish green cones, is made from sour skim 
milk and butter milk, the dried and powdered leaves of rock 
clover (of the sweet-clover family) being thoroughly mixed with 
the ground curd. 

*Michigan Spec. h. 21; Farmers' Bull. No. 202. 



APPENDIX. 



Table I. Composition of Milk and Its Products. 



Cow's milk. 



Colostrum milk 

Cream 

Cream, Cooley 

Skim milk (gravity) . 

Skim milk (centrifugal) 
Butter milk 



Whey 



Condensed milk, 

(no sugar added) . . . 
Condensed milk, 

(sugar added) 

Butter, salted 

" sweet cream. . 

'* sour cream. . . 

" unsalted 

" World's Fair, 1893 
Cheese, cream 

" full cream. . 

* ' Cheddar, green 

" Cheddar, cured 

" World's Fair 
Mam'th, 1893 

" half- skim . . . 

' * skim 

' ' centrifugal skim 



No. of 
analyses 



793 



5,552 
2,173 

200,000 

42 

43 

203 

56 

354 



36 

64 

1,676 

10 

11 

242 
350 
127 
143 



pr. ct. 

87.17 
87.75 
87.10 
86.48 
87.10 
74.57 
68.82 
73.90 
90.43 
90.52 
90.30 
90.12 
91.67 
93.38 
93.12 

58.99 

25.61 
11.95 
12.93 
13.08 
13.07 
11.57 
36.33 
38.00 
36.84 
34.38 

32.06 
39.79 
46.00 
50.5 



Casein 

and 
albumen 



22.66 
17.60 
.87 
.32 
.10 
1.09 
.27 
.32 
.27 

12.42 

10.35 
84.27 
84.53 
84.26 
85.24 
84.70 
40.71 
30.25 
33.83 
32.71 

34.43 

23.92 

11.65 

1.2 



pr. ct. 

3.55 
3.50 
3.201 
3.51^ 
3.40 
17.64* 
3.76 

"3!26' 



Milk 
sugar 



3.55 
4.03 



.86 
.81 

11.92 



pr. ct. 
4.8f 
4.60 
5.10 



4.85 
2.67 
4.23 

'4! 74 



5.25 
4.04 



4.79 
5.80 



Ash 



pr. ct. 

.71 
.75 
.70 

8.71 

.75 
1.56 
.53 
.62 
.70 



.80 

.72 



65 



14.49 



11.79 50.06 
1.26 
.61 I 
.81 I 
1.57 
.95 
18.84 



25.35 
23.72 
26.38 

28.00 
29.67 
34.06 
43.1 



02 
43 
5.61 
951 3 



2.18 

2.19 
2.58 
1.25 
1.19 
.12 
2.78 
3.10 
4.97 



58 



5.51 



Authority 



K6nig= 

Fleischmann 

Van Slyke 

Holland* 

Eichmond 

Konig* 

Holland® 
Konig^ 
Holland^ 
Van Slyke 
Konig^ 
Holland® 
Konig'' 
Van Slyke 



4.73 
4.87 
5.2 



Konig^ 



Woll 

Konig'* 

Woll 

FarringtoB 

Konig'^ 
(( 

Van Slyke 
Drew 

Shutt 
Konig^ 

Storeh 



1 .70 per cent, albumen. 

2 Forty- two analyses. 
8 Eight analyses. 



4 13.60 per cent, albumen. 
s Mostly European samples. 
6 Massachusetts' samples. 



196 



Appendix. 



197 



Table II. Analyses of Different Kinds of Cheese, in Per Cent. 



^^ 


Water 


Fat 


Proteins 


Sugar or 

Lactic 

Acid, etc. 


Ash 


Authority 


Oamembert 


45.2 
3t).7 

81.7 
34.0 

46.7 
52.9 

36.6 
36.8 
35.7 
34.5 
31.8 
36.9 
36.1 


30.3 
63.0 

36.8 
31.0 
15.0 

4.8 

29.0 
26.5 
34.2 
41.9 
19.5 
30.6 
29.5 


19.8 
4.9 

25.5 
26.0 
33.2 
35.9 

25.7 
28.3 
24.2 
13.0 
41.2 
25.3 
28.0 




4.7 
1.2 


Duclaux 


Oream Cheese 


.2 


Vieth 


Cheddar, ripened... 
Cheddar, Canadian. 
Danish, half skim. . . 
Danish, full skim.... 

Edam. 


6 

9 
5 
6 

3.6 
3.2 
3.0 
7.0 
1.2 
1.8 
3.2 




1 

4 

5.1 
5.2 
2.9 
3.6 
6.3 
5.4 
3.1 


Van Slyke 
Dean 
Storch 
Storch 

Konlg 


Gouda 

Limburger 


Konig 
Fleischmann 


Neuf chatel 




Parmesan 


K6nig 


Roquefort 


Konig 


Swiss 


Fleischmann 



Table III. The Cheese Market of the United States. (Thom.) 





Milk. 


Yield of 
Cheese 
per 100 

lbs. Milk 


Ripening. 


Marketable 
Period. 


Retail Price per Lb 


Hard Cheeses. 


Europe. 


U. S. 


English Cheddar 
(best) 


Whole milk 

Whole milk 
Low fat 
Low fat 

Low fat 

3.5-4% fat 
Whole milk 
Whole milk 

Mostly poor 
in fat. 


9-11 

9-11 
8-11 
8-11 
8-11 

12-15 
9-11 
8-10 

12-14 (?) 


6-12 mo. 

3-12 mo. 

Long period 

Long period 

2-3 years 

4 weeks 

4 months 

3-6 months 

Eaten fresh 


6 mo. or more 

Months 
Very long 
Very long 
Very long 

10 days 

1-2 mo. 

2 mo. (?) 

Few days 


$0.22-26 

0.15* 
0.15-24 
0.24-28 
0.32 

0.26-36 
0.23-24 
0.25-35 




Can. or Ameri- 
can Cheddar 

Edam. 


0.14-18 
0.33 


Swiss 


26-35 " 


Parmesan 




Soft or Fanct 
■-_ Cheeses. 

Oamembert 

Gorgonzola 

Stilton (best) .... 
Amer. "Neuf- 
chateP'&Cream 


0.50-70 

0.45 

0.45-60 

0.20-60 









* London, October, 1905. 



198 Cheese Making. 

Table IV. Yield of Cheese from 100 lbs. of Milk. 











Lactometer degrees. 








i^ 




26 


27 


28 


29 


30 


31 


32 


33 


34 


35 


36 


't^ 


2.5 
2.6 
2.7 
2.8 
2.9 
3.0 
3.1 
3.2 
3.3 
3.4 
3.5 
3.6 
3.7 
3.!- 
3.9 
4.0 
4.1 
4.2 
4.3 
4.4 
4.5 
4.6 
4.7 
4.8 
4.9 
5.0 
5.1 
5.2 
5.3 
5.4 
5.6 
0.6 
5.7 
5.8 
5.9 
6.0 


7.28 

7.44 

7.59 

7.74 

7.90 

8.05 

8.21 

8.36 

8.52 

8.67 

8.82 

8.98 

9.13 

9.29 

9.44 

9.60 

9.75 

9.90 

10.06 

10.21 

10.36 

10.52 

10.67 

10.83 

10.98 

11.14 

11.29 

11.45 

11.60 

11.76 

11.91 

12.07 

12.22 

12.38 

12.63 

12.69 


7.41 

7.57 

7.72 

7.87 

8.03 

8.18 

8.34 

8.4« 

8.65 

8.80 

8.96 

9.11 

9.26 

9.42 

9.57 

9.73 

9.88 

10.03 

10.19 

10.34 

10.49 

10.65 

10.81 

10.96 

11.11 

11.27 

11.42 

11.58 

11.73 

11.89 

12.04 

12.20 

12.35 

12.51 

12.66 

12.82 


7.54 

7.70 

7.85 

8.00 

8.16 

8.31 

8.47 

8.62 

8.78 

8.93 

9.09 

9.24 

9.39 

9.55 

9.70 

9.86 

10.02 

10.17 

10.32 

10.48 

10.63 

10.78 

10.94 

11.09 

11.25 

11.40 

11.55 

11.71 

11.86 

12.02 

12.17 

12.33 

12.48 

12.64 

12.79 

12.95 


7.67 

7.83 

7.99 

8.14 

8.30 

8.45 

8.60 

8.75 

8.91 

9.06 

9.22 

9.37 

9.52 

9.68 

9.84 

10.00 

10.15 

10.30 

10.45 

10.61 

10.76 

10.92 

11.07 

11.22 

11.38 

11.54 

11.69 

11.85 

11.99 

12.16 

12.31 

12.47 

12.62 

12.77 

12.93 

13.09 


7.81 

7.96 

8.12 

8.27 

8.44 

8.68 

8.74 

8.89 

9.05 

9.20 

9.35 

9.50 

9.65 

9.81 

9.97 

10.13 

10.28 

10.43 

10.68 

10.74 

10.89 

11.05 

11.20 

11.36 

11.51 

11.67 

11.82 

11.98 

12.13 

12.29 

12.44 

12.60 

12.75 

12.91 

13.06 

13.22 


7.94 

8.09 

8.25 

8.40 

8.56 

8.71 

8.87 

9.02 

9.18 

9.33 

9.48 

9.63 

9.78 

9.94 

10.10 

10.26 

10.39 

10.67 

10.72 

10.87 

11.03 

11.18 

11.34 

11.49 

11.65 

11.80 

11.96 

12.11 

12.27 

12.42 

12.58 

12.73 

12.89 

13.06 

13.19 

13.35 


8.07 

8.22 

8.38 

8.63 

8.69 

8.84 

9.00 

9.15 

9.31 

9.46 

9.62 

9.77 

9.92 

hi.Os 

10.23 

10.39 

10.64 

10.70 

10.85 

11.00 

11.16 

11.31 

11.47 

11.62 

11.78 

11.93 

12.09 

12.24 

12.40 

12.65 

12.71 

12.87 

13.02 

13.18 

13.33 

13.49 


8.20 

8.35 

8.51 

8.67 

8.82 

8.97 

9.13 

9.28 

9.44 

9.59 

9.75 

9.90 

10.06 

10.21 

10.36 

10.53 

10.68 

10.84 

10.99 

11.14 

11.29 

11.45 

11.60 

11.76 

11.91 

12.07 

12.23 

12.38 

12.53 

12.69 

12.85 

13.00 

13.16 

13.31 

13.47 

13.62 


8.33 

8.49 

8.64 

8.80 

8.95 

9.11 

9.26 

9.42 

9.67 

9.73 

9.88 

10.03 

10.19 

10.34 

10.50 

10.66 

10.81 

10.97 

11.12 

11.27 

11.42 

11.58 

11.73 

11.89 

12.04 

12.20 

12.36 

12.52 

12.67 

12.83 

12.99 

13.14 

13.30 

13.45 

13.60 

13.76 


8.47 

8.62 

8.77 

8.91 

9.09 

9.24 

9.39 

9.56 

9.70 

9.86 

10.01 

10.17 

10.32 

10.48 

10,64 

10.79 

10.94 

11.10 

11.25 

11.41 

11.56 

11.71 

11.87 

12.02 

12.18 

12.34 

12.49 

12.66 

12.71 

12.97 

13.12 

13.28 

13.44 

13.59 

13.74 

13.89 


8.6(1 

8.76 

8.91 

9.07 

9.22 

9.37 

9.53 

9.68 

9.84 

9.99 

10.16 

10.30 

10.46 

10.61 

10.77 

10.93 

11.08 

11.24 

11.39 

11.55 

11.70 

11.86 

12.01 

12.16 

12.32 

12.48 

12.63 

12.80 

12. 8o 

13.01 

13.26 

13.41 

13.57 

13.72 

13.87 

14.02 


2.5 
2.6 
•2.7 
2.8 
2.9 
3.0 
3.1 
3.2 
3.3 
3.4 
3.5 
3.6 
3.7 
3.8 
3.9 
4.0 
4.1 
4.2 
4.3 
4.4 
4.5 
4.6 
1.7 
4.H 
4.9 
i.O 
5.1 
5.2 
5.3 
5.4 
5.5 
5.6 
"i.7 
0.8 
5.9 
6.0 



V. GOVERNMENT STANDARDS OF PURITY 
FOR CHEESE.* 

1. Cheese is the sound, solid, and ripened product made 
from milk or cream by coagulating the casein thereof with ren- 
net or lactic acid, with or without the addition of ripening fer- 
ments and seasoning, and contains, in the water-free substance, 

*Circ. No. 19, Office of the Secretary, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



Appendix. 199 

not less than fifty (50) per cent of milk fat. By act of Con- 
gress, approved June 6, 1896, cheese may also contain added 
coloring matter. 

2. Skim-milk cheese is the sounds solid, and ripened product 
made from skim milk by coagulating the casein thereof with 
rennet or lactic acid, with or without the addition of ripening 
ferments and seasoning. 

3. Goat's milk cheese, ewe's milk cheese, etc., are the sound, 
ripened products made from the milks of the animals specified 
by coagulating the casein thereof with rennet or lactic acid, with 
or without the addition of ripening ferments or seasoning. 

VI. DEFINITION OF A GOOD AMERICAN CHEDDAR 
CHEESE* 

Flavor. Should have a fine, nutty, pleasing acid flavor. 
Texture. Smooth, silky and close boring. 
Color. Even and slightly translucent. 

Finish. Should have a smooth rind covered with close- 
fitting bandage and have a square edge. 

VII. DEFECTS IN AMERICAN CHEDDAR CHEESE.* 

I. Defects in Flavor. 

A. Acid Flavors. Indicated by a sour smell and taste. 

Cause. (1) Eipening the milk too much before setting. 

(2) Use of too much starter. 

(3) Use of sharp and over-ripe starter. 

(4) Insufficient cook at the time of drawing the whey. 
Remedy. (1) Ripen milk less before setting. 

(2) Use less starter; from one-half to one per cent is 

usually sufficient. 

(3) Never use a starter which is sharp in taste or in 

which whey appears. 

(4) Get the curd heated to 98 or 100° F. at least li/o 

hour before drawing the whey and develop one- 
eighth of an inch string on the hot iron. 

*By M. Michels, in charge of Butter and Cheese Scoring Exhibitions, 
Wisconsin Dairy School. See also Publow, Defects in American Cheddar 
Cheese, Bull. 257, Cornell Exp. Station. 



200 Cheese Making. 

B. Lacking Flavor. Lacking in taste and smell. 

Catise. (1) Setting the milk underripe. 

(2) Cooking a slow- working curd up too rapidly. 

(3) Too much washing of the curd when placed on the 

racks or after milling. 
Remedfj. (1) Set the milk at .18 to .19 per cent of acid. 

(2) The curd should be firm and develop one-eighth 

inch string on the hot iron in about li/o hour 
after heating to 100° and the drawing of the 
whey. 

(3) "When necessary to use water, do not wash, but 

simply rinse the curd. 

C. Fermented Fruit Flavors. Indicated by a fermented whey 

or fermented fruit smell and somewhat sickening to 
the taste. 
Cause. (1) Unclean cans in which milk is delivered. 

(2) Unclean factory conditions. 

(3) Added with the starter. 

Remedy. (1) Cans in which whey is returned should be 
emptied in the forenoon and properly 
washed and cared for before the milk 
is put in. 

(2) Keep everything about the factory sweet and clean. 

Watch out for leaky vats and leaky dipper han- 
dles. 

(3) This flavor usually gets into the starter can by 

leaving it uncovered in unclean surroundings. 
"Wlien troubled with flavors of this kind it is 
usually hard to develop sufficient acid on the 
curd. 

D. Bitter Flavors. Indicated by a bitter taste. 

Cause. (1) Aged milk. 

(2) May develop in the starter. 

(3) By bacteria brushed from the cows udder while 

milking. 
Remedy. (1) Milk should iot be more than two days old. 
(2) Set the starter with a small amount of mother 
starter, at 70°, rather than use a large amount 



Appendix. 201 

of mother starter and set at 55 or 60° (one quart 
of mother starter to 100 Ihs. of pasteurized skim 
milk is sufficient). 
(3) Milk in clean stables with clean hands. 
E. Weedy or Food Flavors. Indicated by a weedy and food 
smell. 
CoMse. (1) Cows feeding on weeds. 

(2) Feeding strong-scented feed just before or while 
milking. 
(3) Exposing milk in an atmosphere laden with food 

flavors. 
Remedy. (1) Give the cows plenty of good pasture so 
that they will not feed on weeds to the 
extent that this flavor will be noticed 
in the milk. 

(2) Never feed silage, brewers' grains, or slightly de- 

cayed feed shortly before or during milking. 

(3) Never keep the milk in a warm room with feed of 

any kind. 
P. Stable Flavors. Bad taste and cow-stable smell. 
Cause. (1) Uncleanliness in milking. 

(2) Keeping the milk or cream in or near a dirty cow- 
stable. 
Remedy. (1) See that the stable and the cows are clean 
at milking, and always milk with clean, 
dry hands. 
(2) All milk should be removed from the stable as 
soon as the milking is finished. Never keep the 
milk or cream near the stable or manure piles. 
G. Unclean or Off Flavors. Indicated by an unclean smell 
or taste. 
Cause. (1) Often a combination of defects. 

(2) Unclean cans and other utensils coming in contact 

with the milk. 

(3) Unclean milking. 

(4) Exposing the milk to impure air. 

(5) Using impure water in setting the milk or in rins- 

ing the curd. 



202 Cheese' Making. 

(6) Using a starter of unclean flavor, 

(7) These terms are often used when the judges fail 

to find a suitable description. 

II. Defects in Texture. 

A. Dry Textures. Appear dry and hard and do not mold 

between the fingers. 
CoMse. (1) Lack of butter fat in milk. 

(2) Heating the curd too high in the whey. 

(3) Stirring too dry on the racks. 

(4) Using too much salt. 

(5) Insufficient curing before milling and salting. 
Remedy. (1) No butter fat should ever be removed 

from the milk. 

(2) Set at such ripeness that 100° will give the curd a 

sufficient cook. 

(3) Leave enough moisture so that curd will mat in 

about 15 minutes after stirring. 

(4) Use 1/4 lb- of salt to every 10 lbs. of cheese made. 

(5) Keep the curd warm so that the curing will not be 

checked. 

B. Corky Textures. Appear corky or rubber-like. 

Cause. (1) Cutting the curd too fine. 

(2) Too much cook. 

(3) Handling curds roughly, thereby losing part of 

the fat. 
Remedy. (1) Cut no finer than is necessary to insure 
a thorough cook. 

(2) Study the firmness and cook no higher than neces- 

sary. 100° F. is usually sufficient. 

(3) Stir the curd constantly, but gently. The whey 

should never appear milky. 

C. Acid Textures. Appear short and mealy. Look faded in 

color and sour to the taste. 
Cause. (1) Eipening the milk too much before setting. 

(2) The use of too much starter. 

(3) The development of too much acid before the curd 

is properly firmed. 



Appendix. 203 

(4) Developing too much acid in the whey. 

(5) Insufacient stirring when out of the whey. 
Remedy. (1) Study the ripeness of the milk daily and 

you will always know the proper point 
at which to set the milk. 

(2) It is seldom necessary to use more than one per 

cent of starter. 

(3) Allow an hour and a half between the time of 

heating to 98 or 100° and the development of 
one-eighth inch string on the hot iron. 

(4) Never develop more than one-eighth inch string 
in the whey unless the curd had an over-cook. 

(5) Never allow pools of whey to collect on the curd 

after matting. 

When necessary to make over-ripened milk 
into cheese— First, use an extra amount of ren- 
net so as to coagulate the milk quickly. Second, 
cut the coagulated milk into finer pieces than 
ordinary. Third, heat the curd more rapidly 
and to a higher temperature. 
D. Weak Textures. May be close boring, yet soggy. This 
fault usually appears with cold weather and with in- 
creased richness of milk. 
Cause. (1) Insufficient cook. 

(2) Heating curd too rapidly. 

(3) Insufficient drainage. 

(4) Cutting the curd too coarse. 

(5) Not using enough salt. 

(6) Matting the curd down too thin before milling. 
Remedy. (1) As the milk grows richer and the weather 

colder it takes a trifle more heat and 
time to properly firm the curd. 

(2) The lower the acidity of the milk when set, the 

slower should be the cooking process. 

(3) The curd must be stirred sufficiently dry when 

out of the whey. 

(4) Cut to about the size of corn kernels. 

(5) As the yield increases use more salt, one-quarter 

of a pound to every 10 pounds of cheese made. 



204 Cheese Making. 

(6) Do not pile the curd more than three or four lay- 
ers deep and re-pile often. 

E. Open Textures. Cheese very soft and full of holes. 

Cause. (1) Insufficient development of acid. 

(2) Insufficient pressure while in press. 

(3) Too high a temperature of curing room. 
Remedy. (1) The curd should never show less than 1% 

inch string on the hot iron when salted. 

(2) Tighten the press often, or still better, have a con- 

tinuous-pressure press. 

(3) If possible keep the temperature of the curing 

room down to 65°. 

F. Gassy Textures. Indicated by spongy texture and full of 

small openings throughout the cheese. 

Cause. (1) Produced by bacteria brushed into the milk 
with dirt from cow's udder while milking. 

(2) Use of unclean cans. 

(3) Gassy starters. 

Remedy. (1) Cows should not be allowed to wade in 
stagnant pools of water ; and the udder 
should be brushed free of loose dirt be- 
fore milking. 

(2) Cans in which the milk is carried must be kept 

clean ; also the whey tank at the factory. 

(3) A gassy starter should never be used, but should 

be thrown away and a new one prepared. Heat 
the curd more slowly while cooking. A gassy 
curd is always slow in developing acid and for 
this reason a little more acid may be developed 
in the whey. Pile the curd quite deep before 
milling. After milling the curd should be well 
stirred and aired. Use a trifle more salt. 

G. Greasy Textures. Indicated by free butter fat between 

particles of curd which are not cemented together. 
Cause. (1) Very rich milk, two days old. 

(2) Setting the milk at too high a temperature. 

(3) Piling and maturing the curd too much at high 

temperatures. 



Appendix. 205 

Bemedy. (1) Wlien necessary to make up old milk han- 
dle very gently and carefully from 
start to finisli. 

(2) Do not set the milk at too high a temperature. 

(3) Pile the curd less and mill earlier. Rinse with 

water at 90° 15 minutes before salting and use 
a trifle more salt. 

III. Defects in Color. 

A. Dead or Faded in Color. The cause and remedy the same 

as in acid texture. 

B. Mottled in Color. Uneven color in the cheese, most no- 

ticeable in the case of colored cheese. 
Cause. (1) Mixing curds of different colors. 

(2) Uneven development of acid on curd. 

(3) Allowing the curd to mat into large lumps while 

heating. 

(4) Adding a curdy starter without draining. 

(5) Adding starter after the milk has been colored. 
Remedy. (1) Curds from different vats or days should 

never be mixed. 
(2) Do not allow portions of curd to remain in the 

whey until the rest has been stirred dry, and do 

not let the whey collect in pools on the curd 

while matting. 
(8) Keep the particles of curd separate and stirred 

while heating. 

(4) Strain all starters. 

(5) Always add starter before you do the color. 

IV. Defects in Finish. 

A. Make-up or Finish. High edge. 

Cause. (1) Improperly fitting followers. 

(2) Applying pressure too quickly. 

(3) Dressing cheese before sufficient pressure has been 

applied. 
Remedy. (1) Fit followers closely by loosening fibre 
ring and tack further out; if then too 
short tack extra small piece between 
the two ends. 



206 Cheese Maxtng. 

(2) Apply pressure steadily but gently. 

(3) Make certain the cheese has been pressed suffi- 

ciently so as to keep its shape when press is 
opened. Take all wrinkles out of the bandage 
by pulling up tight and lap over one inch ; if too 
long same should be cut off. 

(4) Apply pressure gradually after dressing. 
B. Checked Rinds. 

Cause. (1) Creamery curds. 

(2) Pressing when too cold. 

(3) The use of hard and impervious press cloths. 

(4) Lack of pressure while in the press. 

(5) Too rapid drying when first taken from the press. 
Remedy. (1) Rinse curd before salting and if neces- 
sary wash with warm water when dress- 
ing, or the following morning. 

(2) Keep hoops and press at ordinary room tempera- 

ture. 

(3) Keep press cloths soft by washing daily in water 

and washing powder, or in a pail of whey. 

(4) The pressure must be kept up for several hours 

after dressing. The use of a continuous-pres- 
sure press is recommended. 

(5) Do not place new cheese in a current of air or near 

an open window. 

VIII. STANDARDS FOR GRADING CANADIAN CHED- 
DAR CHEESE.* 

First Grade. Flavor: Clean, sound and pure. 
Body and Texture : Close, firm and silky. 
Color: Good and uniform. 
Finish: Fairly even in size, smoothly finished, sound and 

clean surfaces, straight and square. 
Boxes: Strong, clean, well made and nailed. Ends to be 

of seasoned timber. Close fitting. "Weights stenciled 

or marked with rubber stamp. 
Second Grade. Flavor: "Fruity," not clean, "tumipy," or 

other objectionable flavor. 

♦Report Dairy Oom'r of Canada, 1906, pp. 17-18. 



Appendix. 207 

Body and Texture: Weak, open, loose, "acidy," too soft, 

too dry. 
Color: Uneven, mottled, or objectionable shade. 
Finish: Very uneven in size, showing rough, comers, black 

mold, dirty or cracked surfaces, soft rinds. 
Boxes: Too large in diameter; top edge of box more than 
one-half inch below the top of the cheese. Made of 
light material. Ends made of improperly seasoned 
material. 
Third Grade. Flavor: Rancid, badly "off," anything inferior 
to second grade. 
Body and Texture: Very weak, very open, showing pin- 
holes or porous, very ' ' acidy, ' ' very soft or very dry. 
Color: Badly mottled, or very objectionable shade. 
Finish: Anything worse than second grade. 
Boxes: No question of boxes sufficient to make third grade 

if other qualities are good. 
The following scale of points indicates the relative value of 
the different divisions of quality: Flavor, 40; body and tex- 
ture, 30 ; color, 15 ; finish and boxing, 15. For further explana- 
tions of qualities and defects, reference is made to the original 
publication cited. 



INDEX 



Acid test, Manns', 64; Marschall, 65. 

Acidimeter, use in cheese making, 64. 

Acidity test, Farrington, 50. 

Aeration of milk, 18. 

Aerators, different kinds, 18. 

Albumen, 2. 

Albuminoids, 1. 

Alkaline tablet test, 50. 

American Cheddar cheese, definition 
of a g-ood, 199. 

American dairy salt, composition, 79. 

Analyses of different kinds of cheese, 
197; of milk and other dairy pro- 
ducts, 196. 

Annatto color, 53. 

Ash, 2. 

Babcock test, 24; apparaturs used, 
25; reading, 26, 29. 

Bacteria in milk, varieties, 15. 

Bacterial infection, bad flavor from, 
14. 

Bad flavors in milk, causes, 14. 

Bath room in cheese factory, 127. 

Block Swiss cheese, 138, 154; boxing, 
159; handling in cellar, 159; press- 
ing, 154. 

Brick cheese, 162; characteristics, 
162; curing process, 166; dipping 
curd, 163; draining boards, 164; 
draining table, 164; milk for, 162; 
molds, 164; Munster, 168; press- 
ing, 165; salting, 165; shipping, 
168. 

Buyer's stencil, 108. 

Buttiro cheese, 192. 

By-laws for cheese-factory associa- 
tions, 131. 

Camembert cheese, 189. 

Canadian Cheddar cheese, score. 111, 

207; standards for, 206. 
Canadian Club Cheese, 190. 
Canned cheese, 190. 
Casein, 1; test for, 33. 



Cheddar cheese, Canadian, standards 
for, 206; defects in, 199; defects in 
flavor, 199; in texture, 202; in 
color, 205; in finish, 205; factories, 
in New York, 48; in Ohio, 49; in 
Wisconsin, 49; farm, 191; history, 
48; processes of manufacture, 49. 

Cheddar system of cheese making, 49. 

Cheddars, weight and diameter, 83. 

Cheese, anab'sesi, 8, 195; bandages, 
84; boxing, 106; cold-curing, 104; 
color, 113; constituents recovered 
in making, 10; corky, 113; 
cracked, 114; cracks in, 89; 
crumbly, 114; curing, 94; effect of 
too much salt, SO; flavor, 111; 
greasing, 88; green, composition, 
8; gross appearance, 113; hard, 
114; judging, 110; marking, 108; 
mealy, 114; packages, common, 
82; paraffining, 105; poison, 115; 
pressing, 82; print, 90; pasty, 114; 
rates for making, 133; rusty 
spots, 114; salt, 113; selling, 108; 
shrinkage in curing, 102; stand- 
ards for purity, 198; testing, 
29; texture, 112; weak-bodied, 
114; weighing, 106; yield from 
milk of different quality, 6, 135, 
198. 

Cleanliness in cheese factories, 19. 

Cloth circles, 89. 

Club House cheese, 190. 

Cheese color, 53; requirements of dif- 
ferent markets, 54, 113. 

Cheese cloth circles, 89. 

Cheese factory associations, organi- 
zation, 131; by-laws, 131. 

Cheese factories, construction, 117; 
cost, 130; equipment, 128, 129; 
operation, 117. 

Cheese in cold storage, 39. 

Cheese making, first steps, 50. 

Cheese market of the United States, 
197. 

Cheese, moldy, cleaning of, 89. 



208 



Index. 



209 



Cheese presses, 83; Helmer, 84; 
Moore's, 83; Sprague, 83. 

Cheese press cloths, 89. 

Cheese score, American, 110; Cana- 
dian, 111, 207; BngUsh, 111. 

Cheese trier, 111. 

Cococavallo cheese, 192. 

Cold-curing of Cheddar cheese, 104. 

Cold-storage cheese, 89. 

Colostrum milk, 8. 

Composite milk samples, 32. 

Cottage cheese, 184; dipping, 186; 
hydrochloric-acid cheese, 187; 
marketing, 187; method of manu- 
facture, 184; regulation of moist- 
ure, 185. 

Cream cheese, 187. 

Curd, composition, 8; cutting, 57; 
heating, 59- milking, 71; over- 
ripe, cooking, 60; salting, 78. 

Curd knives, 57. 

Curd mills, 72; Barnard, 74; B. & 
W., 73; Elgin, 72; Fuller, 74; 
Gosselin, 74; Harris, 74; Kasper, 
74; McPherson, 73; Pohl, 72; Roe. 
72; Whitlow, 73. 

Curd rack, 66. 

Curd rakes, 60. 

Curd sink, 69. 

Curd stirrer, 61. 

Curd test, the Wisconsin, 15. 

Curds, from milk of different qual- 
ity, 17; pin-holey, 68; steaming, 
77; washed, 68. 

Curing cheese, 94; at different tem- 
peratures', 94; changes in, 94; 
shrinkage in, 102. 

Curing room, 117; floor, 118; air, con- 
dition of, 101; supplying moist- 
ure, 101; moisture in, 95. 

Curing rooms, central, 103. 

Curing shelves, 94. 

Dairy salt, American, composition 

of, 79. 
Daisies, 83. 
Danish pasteurized skim milk 

cheese, 193. 
Dean's method of payment for milk 

at factories, 135. 
Dividends, figuring, 133. 
Drum Swiss cheese, 138, 153; hox- 

ing, 159; pressing, 153. 

Edam cheese, 174; characteristics. 
174; curing, 182; dressing, 181; 
market, description of, 177; 
method of manufacture, 179; or- 



igin, 174; molds, 180; possibilities 
of manufacture, in America, 181; 
preparing for market, 182; salt- 
ing, 181. 

English cheese score. 111. 

Enzymes, 34. 

Export cheese, Danish, 193. 

Factory cleanliness, 19; statement, 

135; surroundings, 22. 
Fancy cheeses, 189. 
Farm Cheddar cheese, 191. 
Farrington alkaline tablet test, 50, 

64. 
Fat, 3; effect on quality of cheese, 5; 

effect on quantity of cheese, 6, 

135; loss in whey, 9. 
Fat globules, 3. 

Feed, bad flavors in milk from, 14. 
Ferments, organized, 34; unorgan- 
ized, 34. 
Figuring dividends, 133; by Dean's 

method, 135; by fat test, 134; by 

pooling system, 134. 
Flats, 83. 

Foreign cheeses, 189. 
Eraser gang hoops, 86. 

Galactase, 35. 

Glaesler cheese, 141, 144. 

Gouda cheese, 191. 

Government standards for purity of 

cheese, 198. 
"Green cheese," 194. 

Haris curd mill, 74; rennet test, 37. 
Hart's casein test, 33. 
Helmer cheese press, 84. 
Herrick, curd knife, 67. 
Holland, farming in, 174. 
Hoops, Fi-aser gang, 83, 84, 86; Wil- 
son, 86. 
Hot-iron test, 63. 

Humidity, relative, table showing, 98. 
Hygrometer, 96. 
Hygroscope, 96. 

I 
Ideal Cheddar cheese, 110. 
Imitation Neufchatel cheese. 187. 
Infection of milk, 15. 
Italian cheese, 192. 

Judging cheese, 110. 

Kasper curd mill, 74. 
Knife mills, 72. 
Kraeuter cheese, 194. 



15 



210 



Cheese Making. 



I/actometer, Board of Health, 31; 
Quevenne, 30. 

Limburg-er cheese, 169; cellar, 172; 
characteristics, 169; cooking curd, 
170; curing, 172; dipping curd, 
170; milk for, 169; origin, 169; 
pressing table, 171; salting, 171; 
shipping, 172; utensils, 169. 



Manns' acid test, 64. 

Making cheese, rates for, 133. 

Marschall acid test, 64; rennet test, 
40; errors to be avoided with, 41. 

McPherson curd rake, 61. 

Milk, aeration, 18; care, 18; compo- 
site samples, 32; composition, 1, 
4, 196; contamination, 12; cool- 
ing, 19; factory, variations, 4; 
over-ripe, tests for, 50; products, 
composition, 196; samples, pre- 
serving, 32; secretion, 12; sugar, 
2; testing, 24; thief, 32; time of 
secretion, 13; uses, 1; utensils, 
care of, 19; watered, detection 
of, 31. 

Molds, how to kill, 22. 

Moldy cheese, cleaning, 89. 

Monrad rennet test, 39. 

Muenster cheese, 168. 

Neufchatel cheese, 187. 
Niszler cheese, 141. 

Pantegras cheese, 191. 

Paracasein, 94. 

Paraffining cheese, 105; tank for, 106. 

Pasteurized skim milk cheese, 193. 

Peg mills, 72. 

Pepsin, scale, compared with rennet, 

46; use in cheese making, 55. 
Poison cheese, 115. 
Pooling system, method of payment 

by, 134. 
Potted cheese, 190. 
Press cloths, 89. 
Print cheese, 90. 
Proteins, 1. 
Psychrometer, 96. 



Quevenne lactometer, 30. 

Records, keeping daily, 91. 
Relative humidity, tables, 98. 
Rennet, action of, 43; thermal des- 
truction point, 45. 



Rennet, effect of acid, 37, 43; alkali, 
43; anesthetics, 44; heat, 36; milk 
preservatives, 46; salt, 44; soluble 
calcium salts, 46; temperature, 
44; water in milk, 44. 

Rennet extract, 35; effect of strength, 
45; manufacture, 35. 

Rennet test, 37; in Swiss-cheese 
making, 144; Marschall, 40. 

Rennets, commercial, 35. 

Rieotte cheese, 193. 

Rusty spots in cheese, 114, 



Sage cheese, 195. 

Salt and its impurities. 78. 

Salt, effect of too/ much, on cheese, 
80. 

Salting cheese, temperature, 81. 

Sampling tube, Scovell, 32. 

Scale boards, 107. 

Scamorze cheese, 192. 

Schabziger cheese, 194. 

Scoring cheese, scale for, 110. 

Scovell sampling tube, 32. 

Septic tank, 125, 126. 

Skim-milk cheese, 193. 

Soaked curd cheese, 69. 

Soft cream cheese, 187. 

Standards for purity of cheese, gov- 
ernment, 198. 

Startaline, 53. 

Starter, lactic ferment, 52; use in 
cheese making, 52. 

Stencil, buyer's, 108. 

Sub-earth ducts, 120. 

Swiss cheese, 137; block, 138; cause 
of glaesler, 144; cellars, 158; 
characteristics, 137; color, 140; 
description, 137; determining 
quality, 138; dipping curd, 152; 
drum, 138; flavor, 139; grades, 
140; glaesler, 141; how tried, 141; 
marking, 155; method of manu- 
facture, 147; milk for, 144; nisz- 
ler, 141; prices of different 
grades, 142; requirements, 141; 
salting, 156; texture, 139; where 
made, 137; whey from, 9; work 
in curing room, 158. 

Swiss curd, cutting, 149. 

Swiss harp, 149. 

Swiss kettles, 146. 

Test committee, 132. 
Udder, structure, 12. 



Index. 



211 



Washing- curds, 68. 
Watered milk, detection, 31. 
Whey, composition, 9; drawing, 63; 

from Swiss cheese, 9; losses of 

fat, 9. 
Whey tank, how built, 126. 
Wilson cheese hoops, 86. 



Wire stirrer, 149. 
Wisconsin curd test, 15. 

Yield of cheese from 100 lbs. of milk, 
198; from milk of different com- 
position, 6, 135. 

Young Americas, 82. 




THE MARSCHALL RENNET TEST 

Is known by Cheesemakers all over the world and 

THE MARSCHALL AGIO TEST 

on account of its simplicity is rapidly replacing 
all breakable and complicated apparatus for the 
accurate determination of the acidity of milk 
and cream. See page 64 of this book. 

OYER 50 MILLION LBS. OF CHEESE 




t.^^4y ' -«as? >! ^^g made in Wisconsin with 

Price, Complete, S4.00 

The Marschall Rennet Extract 

during 1908. and nearly all the best prizes and the highest scores of the year went to our 
customers. Shipped direct to you from our Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin. Also 

Cheese Color, Rennet Powder, Rennet Tablets, Dry Neulralizers, Etc. 

The MarschaH Dairy Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin 
D. H. BURRELL & CO. 

LITTLE FALLS, - NEW YORK 

Branches: Rome, New York and Brockville, Ontario 

Manufacturers of and dealers in apparatus and supplies for the 
manufacture of cheese and butter, and also for the handling of 
milk in any quantity. 

SOME OF OUR SPECIALTIES ARE 

Sanitary Milk and Cream Vats 
Sprague Automatic Adjustable Presses 
"Simplex" Cream Pasteurizers 
"Simplex" Tubular Coolers 
"Facile" Babcock Testers, etc. 

Write!forOur Catalog and Price List 

Mention DECKER, CHEESE MAKING, when writing to advertisers 



Chr. Hansen's Dairy Preparations 

ARE WORLD'S STANDARDS 

Leaders in every country where butter and cheese 
are made -- Europe, America, Australia 

Chr. Hansen's Danish Rennet Extract, Danish Cheese 
Color, Danish Butter Color, Lactic Ferment Culture 
Rennet Tablets and Cheese Color Tablets for Cheese 
Making on the Farm. : : : : : 

Manufactured and put up only by 

CHR. HANSEN'S LABORATORY 

BOX 1000 LITTLE FALLS, NEW YORK 



BOOKS by PROF. F. W. WOLL 

A HANDBOOK FOR FARMERS AND DAIRYMEN, Fifth Edition, 

1908, XV and 496 pp $1.50 

GROTENFELT'S MODERN DAIRY PRACTICE. Third Amer- 
ican Edition, 1905, 286 pp 2.00 

A BOOK ON SILAGE, Second Edition, 1900, 234 pp 1.00 

TESTING MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS. 18th Edition. 1908.292 pp. 

(Jointly with Prof. E. H. Farrin^ton; 1.00 

Sent prepaid on receipt of the price given 

MENDOTA BOOK CO., Madison, Wis. 



The Creamery Package Mfg. Co 

Manufacturers and Dealers in 
Supplies and Apparatus for 
Cheese Factories, Creameries 
:: and Dairies. :: 



Catalog Free — Correspondence Solicited 

Main House 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

Branches: 
Kansas City, Mo. Minneapolis, Minn. Waterloo, la. 
Omaha, Nebraska Rutland, Vermont 

Mention DECKER, CHEESE MAKING when writing to Advertisers 



The Cheese Maker s Library 

DEC/iTE/?— CHEESE MAKING; Domestic and For- 
eign, 1909. New revised edition by F. W. Woll $1.75 

FARRINGTON-WOLL— TESTING MILK AND 

ITS PRODUCTS, eighteenth edition, 1908 1.00 

Wing — Milk and its Products, sixth edition, 1903 1.50 

Dean — Canadian Dairying, 1903 1.00 

Grotenfelt — Modern Dairy Practice, 1905. 2.00 

Russell — Dairy Bacteriology, fifth edition, 1903 1.00 

Monrad — A B C in Cheese Making, fourth edition, 1902 .50 

Monrad — Cheese Making in Switzerland 50 

Woll — Handbook for Farmers and Dairymen, 1908. . . . 1.50 

Fleischmann— Book of the Dairy, 1896 3.00 

Kirchner — Handbuch der Milchwirtschaft, fifth edition, 

1907 3.50 

V. Klenze — Handbuch der Kaserei-Technik, 1884 4.25 

Leze — Les Industries de Lait, 1891 1.50 

The preceding books will be sent prepaid on receipt of draft 
or money order for $20.00. Separate books will be sent pre- 
paid on receipt of the price given. 

Mendota Book Co., Madison, Wis. 



IAN 25 1909 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDD0fiTlE41S I 

0! 



<. 



n 


■ 


M 


■ 




